The waterways that keep the economy moving, and the pirates who haunt them

They came in two engine boats, pointed a gun at Falguni Biswas and ordered him to stop the engine. 

"If I hadn't stopped, they would have opened fire on the vessel," said the master of MV Ruposhi-7.

It was just after Maghrib prayers on 26 May. Biswas was steering his coal-laden cargo vessel from Matarbari Port to the Payra Thermal Power Plant through waters near Dhuliar Char, west of Bhola, while some crew members gathered for evening prayers. Within minutes, armed men had climbed aboard.

"They beat me mercilessly," Biswas said. "They broke my arm and my right leg. Then they put a gun inside my mouth and pulled the trigger. Somehow, it didn't fire." 

The attackers looted company spare parts worth around Tk25 lakh, along with cash, mobile phones, clothing and even the crew's food supplies. "They took our rice, lentils, cooking oil, salt — even my sandals and towel," he said. "I've never seen pirates like this before."

After 26 years navigating Bangladesh's rivers, Biswas says cyclones, rough tides and mechanical failures have always been part of the job. Armed piracy is now another.

"In India, once we cross the border, we feel we've entered a safe zone," he said. "Here, you never know where armed pirates might be waiting."

Interviews with vessel masters, engineers and labour representatives, along with recent attacks, suggest that robbery, extortion and violent assaults have become an increasingly persistent threat across Bangladesh's inland waterways.

In late June, five cargo vessels sailing empty to India through the Bangladesh-India Protocol Route left Mongla Port together. As they entered the Shibsa River, several speedboats gave chase. Four vessels escaped, but MV Abdul Hakim-1 was overtaken.

According to those on board, 10 to 15 armed men wearing life jackets boarded the vessel, assaulted the crew members, tied up several workers and looted cash, mobile phones and other valuables. 

When the master locked himself inside the bridge, the attackers fired more than a dozen shotgun rounds at the bridge door before fleeing after about 15 minutes.

The attack renewed concerns among vessel operators about security along Bangladesh's rivers.

From the Meghna and Chandpur to Baidyer Bazar, Gazaria, Kaliganj and the Sylhet river network, workers describe piracy, extortion and violent assaults as recurring occupational hazards rather than isolated crimes.

"They beat me mercilessly. They broke my hand and my right leg. Then they put a gun inside my mouth and pulled the trigger. Somehow, it didn't fire." Falguni Biswas, master of MV Ruposhi-7

A profession that accepts risk, but not uncertainty

Mohammad Arif has spent roughly a decade working aboard inland cargo vessels. 

Having served as a helmsman, quartermaster and now a ship master, he has navigated most of Bangladesh's major inland shipping routes, including Chattogram-Dhaka, Chattogram-Nowapara, Indian protocol routes and coastal voyages towards Payra.

During those years, he says, storms, mechanical failures and tidal conditions have always been part of the hazards of the profession. Piracy has now become another. 

Drawing on his experience, Arif identifies several stretches where crews become particularly alert.

According to him, vessels travelling from Chattogram generally remain relatively safe until reaching the Tulatuli area. From there, however, crews begin entering locations that many mariners consider high-risk, including areas around Kaliganj, Ilisha, Chandpur, Harina, Mohonpur, Gazaria and coastal areas nearby Sundarbans and Khulna. 

Another route towards Sylhet passes through Baidyer Bazar in Narayanganj, which he describes as one of the most feared locations among inland crews.

"I was attacked there myself last year," he recalled, describing an incident in which armed men boarded his vessel and demanded cash. According to Arif, the attackers were not interested in phones or equipment. "They simply told us to hand over whatever money we had."

Similar stories from different waterways

For Mohammad Raihan Chowdhury, organising secretary of the Bangladesh Noujan Sramik O Karmachari union, the recent attacks are part of a broader deterioration in security affecting inland shipping workers.

He points to the killing of seven workers aboard MV Al-Bakhera in December 2024 as a defining moment.

The vessel was attacked on the Meghna River near Chandpur, where seven crew members were murdered in one of the deadliest attacks on inland shipping in recent memory.

According to Raihan, the incident fundamentally changed how many crews viewed river security.

Since then, he says, reports of robberies and violent attacks have continued to arrive from workers across the country.

Acknowledging that the River Police have recently increased patrols in some areas, he argues that the number of incidents remains worrying. 

His organisation receives complaints from workers operating lighter vessels, launches and bulkheads across multiple river systems.

Like Arif, Raihan identifies Kaliganj, Ilisha, Madarchar, Gazaria and Baidyer Bazar as locations where attacks occur repeatedly.

"The Meghna route is one of the most dangerous," he says. 

Chief Engineer Rafiqul Islam, who has worked on oil tankers, container vessels and lighter ships for more than 16 years, shared the similar threats.

In his experience, risk varies by location.

According to him, outright robberies are more common in the lower Meghna and areas such as Baidyer Bazar, while extortion becomes more frequent further upstream around Dhaka and Narayanganj. 

His list of vulnerable locations — including Hatia, Kaliganj, Chandpur, Monpura, Gazaria, Baidyer Bazar, Moricha, Baijitpur and sections of the Bhuluya River — largely overlaps with those identified by both Arif and Raihan.

Such consistency does not necessarily prove that these are the country's only robbery hotspots. It does, however, suggest that experienced mariners operating independently tend to identify many of the same stretches as particularly vulnerable.

Different rivers, similar methods

The interviews also reveal remarkable consistency in how attacks are carried out. The most common method described involves small, fast-moving trawlers approaching slower inland cargo vessels.

Unlike ocean-going ships, lighter vessels and bulkheads generally travel at relatively low speeds and have limited ability to manoeuvre quickly. Attackers exploit that limitation.

According to crews, robbers often wait until evening or night, when visibility decreases and fewer vessels are nearby. Several interviewees said attackers use speedboats to approach alongside moving vessels before climbing aboard with knives, machetes, sticks or firearms.

Once on deck, crews are threatened while attackers search for cash, mobile phones, batteries and navigational equipment.

In some cases, workers report being assaulted even after surrendering valuables.

Rafiqul Islam described another tactic that has become increasingly common.

Rather than immediately boarding vessels, groups first throw fishing nets directly into a ship's path.

If the net becomes entangled in the propeller, the vessel slows or stops.

The attackers then claim that their fishing gear has been damaged and demand compensation running into hundreds of thousands of taka — far exceeding the actual value of the net.

Whether described as compensation, extortion or coercion, workers say the result is often the same: payments made simply to continue the journey.

Other groups, Rafiqul added, arrive by trawler and openly demand fixed amounts — sometimes Tk2,000, sometimes Tk5,000 — from passing vessels.

More than piracy

For crews working on Bangladesh's rivers, piracy is only one of several security concerns.

Interviewees describe a broader environment where robbery, extortion and intimidation often overlap.

Rafiqul Islam explains that not every incident involves armed robbers boarding vessels.

Sometimes, organised groups extort fixed payments from passing vessels. In other cases, fishing nets are deliberately placed across shipping routes. When a vessel's propeller becomes entangled, crews are accused of damaging fishing equipment and pressured into paying compensation.

Workers interviewed for this report describe these incidents as organised extortion rather than genuine disputes over damaged fishing gear. Labour leaders also point to alleged extortion along routes used by bulkheads transporting sand, stone and coal from Sylhet.

According to Raihan Chowdhury, some vessels encounter repeated demands for payments while passing through multiple points along the same journey. He argues that such practices significantly increase operating costs for an industry already facing rising fuel prices and slowing demand.

In January 2025, inland shipping workers organised a demonstration in Munshiganj demanding action against extortion, attacks and robbery on the Meghna River. Labour representatives alleged that bulkheads carrying sand were regularly forced to pay money at different points and warned of broader protests unless authorities intervened.

An industry under pressure

Bangladesh's inland water transport network carries millions of tonnes of cargo each year.

Bulkheads transport sand, stone and construction materials. Lighter vessels move imported commodities from seaports to inland destinations. Oil tankers distribute fuel nationwide, while protocol route vessels connect Bangladesh with India under bilateral inland water transit arrangements.

Any disruption therefore affects more than individual crews.

Although none of the interviewees suggested that river robbery has significantly disrupted national trade, several argued that repeated attacks have increased anxiety among workers and operators.

Following the Sundarbans attack on MV Abdul Hakim-1, representatives of the Bangladesh-India Protocol Committee warned that repeated incidents could undermine confidence in the route unless security improved.

According to Arif, crews no longer think only about weather forecasts or mechanical reliability before beginning a voyage. Certain sections of a route now require additional vigilance because attacks are considered possible.

The psychological burden is particularly evident among crews who have previously experienced robberies.

Balancing security and commerce

Bangladesh's inland water transport network spans about 24,000 kilometres of rivers, canals and waterways, of which around 6,000 km are navigable during the monsoon and 3,900 km during the dry season. 

The country has more than 22,300 registered inland vessels, while 65 designated navigation routes carry over half of the country's cargo and about one-quarter of its passenger traffic, making inland shipping one of Bangladesh's most important transport systems.

For a country that relies heavily on rivers to move construction materials, fuel and other bulk commodities, ensuring security is an economic issue. Every successful robbery brings financial losses for vessel operators, while even failed attacks can result in delays, repairs, insurance claims and growing anxiety among crews.

At the same time, policing Bangladesh's vast river network is a formidable challenge. Thousands of kilometres of waterways, shifting channels, remote riverbanks and heavy commercial traffic present operational difficulties very different from securing highways or urban centres.

For Biswas, however, the stakes are measured in far more practical terms.

"The majority of the country's cargo moves through waterways," he said. "We transport coal to power plants at Payra, Rampal, Banshkhali and Matarbari. Without us, many industries would struggle to operate."

He argues that inland shipping remains one of the country's most cost-effective transport systems. "Transporting one tonne of cargo by truck can cost around Tk40,000," Biswas said. "By river, we can move it for around Tk700 to Tk1,000."

From imported coal and fuel to cement raw materials, wheat and sugar, inland vessels keep factories supplied and goods moving. "The country's industries depend on us," he said. "But we still don't have the security we need."

Looking ahead

Unlike large oceangoing ships with sophisticated surveillance systems and bigger crews, many inland cargo vessels operate with small teams, particularly on overnight voyages. 

Once a vessel leaves port, communication with law enforcement can also become difficult, leaving crews largely on their own.

"We pay taxes and operate legally," said Arif. "But when an emergency happens on the river, help often does not arrive when it is needed."

Chief Engineer Rafiqul Islam shares a similar view. While acknowledging that police and other agencies sometimes respond, he said assistance usually comes after attackers have fled.

"In perhaps two out of 10 incidents, assistance arrives," he said. "Most of the time, by the time law enforcement reaches the location, everything is over."

Authorities say efforts to improve river security are ongoing. Following the recent attack on Bangladesh-India protocol vessels in the Sundarbans, the Coast Guard said it had launched operations to identify those responsible. 

The Business Standard contacted River Police officials several times for comment on recent pirate attacks and measures to protect commercial vessels. Despite repeated attempts, they did not respond.

Tawohidul Haque, associate professor and crime analyst at the Institute of Social Welfare and Research at the University of Dhaka, said river robbery is part of a broader pattern of organised crime.

"We are seeing organised criminal groups involved not only in robbery but also in murder, extortion and other river-based crimes," he said. "The River Police have made progress, but they need greater manpower and stronger operational capacity."

He also stressed the need for stronger intelligence networks along the waterways.

"Law enforcement needs reliable local sources among riverbank communities and people whose livelihoods depend on the rivers," he said. "If criminals believe they can commit crimes on the waterways without being caught, these rivers will become even more unsafe."