A Corentyne fisherman and his crew were on Saturday attacked and robbed by four armed men who made off with their fishing boat and left them to drift on the sea for nearly a day.
The pirates also made off with a 48-horsepower outboard engine, 400 pounds of fishing seine, fuel and a gas stove and cylinder. The attack occurred around 8 pm.
Police in a statement yesterday said that investigations have so far revealed that Fazil Ali and crew were putting down their fishing nets off the shore of Bushlot, Corentyne, Berbice when a boat with the four men who were all masked and armed with a firearm, a cutlass, a knife and a piece of wood came up alongside and held them up.
The armed men then forced the victims to take the engine off the bandits’ boat and place it in their boat.
The police press release stated that the victims were then placed in the boat that the armed men came in while the bandits escaped with the other boat leaving them adrift. Ali and the other three victims drifted until they managed to swim ashore at Eversham, Corentyne about 3.30 pm on Sunday.
Corentyne fishermen have been plagued by piracy in recent years.
