The sea route along the East African coast in the Indian Ocean has always been risky. Therefore, the ships of that route move by maintaining a sufficient distance from that coast. The route of the Bangladeshi-owned ship MV Abdullah, which was hijacked on its way from the African country of Mozambique to Abu Dhabi in the Middle East, was also about four hundred and fifty nautical miles from the shore. But due to lax security, Somali pirates took advantage.
After this incident, the Department of Shipping and Commerce has issued new guidelines for handling ships on international sea routes.
According to the directive, from now on 97 Bangladeshi-owned ships plying in dangerous seas will be assigned armed security guards. International rules must be followed.
From now on, while crossing the Red Sea as well as the Indian Ocean, the Department of Shipping has directed that as per international law, armed security guards should be kept.
Captain Sabbir Mahmud, principal officer of the Maritime and Trade Department, said that such an incident would not happen if the owners obeyed the rules of shipping according to international rules and strengthened the security measures. Therefore, from now on 97 Bangladeshi-owned ships plying on dangerous sea routes have been ordered to appoint armed security guards
