DHAKA, May 14, 2026 (BSS) - The River Police conducted nationwide drives over the past seven days to protect the country's fisheries resources and ensure security on waterways, arresting 264 people and seizing huge quantities of illegal fishing equipment, fish fry and jelly-injected shrimp.

According to a press release, the drives recovered over 2.80 crore meters of illegal fishing nets, 2,595 kilograms of fish, 821,000 shrimp fry, 500,000 Bata fish fry, 60,000 Parshe fish fry, 2,000 Bagda shrimp fry and 150 kilograms of jelly-injected shrimp.

During the operations, River Police also destroyed 147 illegal brush piles set up in rivers for unlawful fishing activities.

Authorities filed prosecutions in river courts against 83 bulkheads for operating without valid documents, while one dredger was seized.

A total of 88 cases were filed during the week-long drives, including 69 cases under fisheries laws, five for reckless speed violations, three related to sand quarry regulations and three narcotics cases.

The release said nine bodies were also recovered from rivers during the period.

The seized illegal nets and jelly-injected shrimp were destroyed, while the fish fry were released back into water bodies. 

The remaining fish were distributed among orphanages.