According to various sources, at around 3:00am on Thursday a group of fishermen, hoping to catch a large yield of fish, collaborated with intruders to pour herbal poison in the middle of the river at Betchhara point under Rowangchhari upazila, some 11km from the Bandarban township. They then fled with an estimated 50 tons of fish fry grown over 400 enclaves, locally known as ghers.

Sheikh Alauddin, the deputy commissioner of Bandarban, acknowledged the incident, saying, "We are aware of the incident and I have asked relevant department officials to immediately investigate the devastating incident and submit a report to me."

According to traditional ancestral practice, local people have bred, grown and sold fish fry for years along a 20km long stretch of the river, a practice which is illegal but tolerated in order to allow them to live. Some 400 enclaves are unofficially registered which have been engaged in regular fish fry trading.

It is believed that outsiders planned Thursday's theft and used poison - liquid extracts from a locally grown tree known as mela - to keep the fish fry afloat so they could easily be caught with a fishing net.

Adhar Chanda Jaladas, the president of the Bandarban fishermen association, alleged that a section of local fishermen with the support of intruders may have carried out the robbery to make quick money.

Local people also said that a similar incident of fish fry robbery using poison occurred in 2002. The local administration, however, denies the occurrence of any incidents in the past that may have favoured the criminals to carry out such a robbery again.

A visit to various points of the river revealed that local people have been engaged since early morning yesterday in catching floating fish fry, mostly shrimp.

When this correspondent went to contact the fishing department official, Dr Mosleh Uddin, a clerk at his office said he had gone to the district commissioner's office to attend a meeting. But when contacted, the district commissioner officials said they were looking for Dr Mosleh Uddin but he was not available.