The island territories of the North Andaman Island are replete with valuable maritime resources like sea cucumbers, corals, fishes and mammals. Sea cucumbers are a highly prized commodity in South East Asian countries and the Myanmarese fishermen have infested the Indian waters to harvest and loot them from the shores. Sea cucumbers are available in shallow waters and can be harvested by diving. This story relates to the first incident of this year when such foreign poachers were arrested by the Coast Guard.

About thirty poachers had set out from Bassein area of Myanmar in two mechanised boats with an eye on sea cucumbers in Anadaman Islands. After making a sea voyage of five days, they surreptitiously slipped through the Landfall Island area and started harvesting sea cucumbers near Sound Island close to Mayabander Harbour. Fortunately, they were seen by the local fishermen who alerted the local police. The local police chased the poachers who vanished into the inhospitable territory of North Andaman forest. At this juncture, Coast Guard stepped in to help the police to apprehend the poachers. Coast Guard ship Lakshmi Bai was deployed for this purpose.

Before commencing its operation, CGS Lakshmi Bai was given a thorough briefing about the operation by local Coast Guard authorities. On reaching the area, the ship anchored off Sound Island. After anchoring, three landing parties were dispatched for combing. The combined parties combed the jungle from seaward side throughout the day. During the operations, a freshly abandoned Myanmarese camp was sighted and destroyed. A Coast Guard helicopter was also tasked for the search on the first day in the area but without any success. In the light of the evidence gathered by the scout teams, it was clear that the poachers were confined within the thick rainforests and marshy land. Further combing was planned for next day in the same area. The poachers were assumed to be hostile and likely to be in possession of sharp weapons.

Next day, two search parties started their combing from opposite sides. Another party extracted intelligence from local villagers and launched an extensive hunt for the poachers in the marshy lands braving leeches and salt water crocodiles. When the two landing parties were about to rendezvous each other, three Myanmarese poachers were sighted by one of them and were immediately apprehended. The captured poachers were brought to the ship for interrogation. A strict vigil was maintained by the landing party to prevent the escape of poachers by sea route.

Next morning, the landing parties resumed their combing operation in the forest from three directions heading for a prominent hill called Lal Tikri. Later, the landing parties continued combing from the jungle towards the village nearby. The village folks were advised to stay in a group as there were chances that the poachers might strike for ration in the isolated houses close to the jungle. However, no apprehension was made during the day. At night, the landing party assisted by local youths camped on the sea-shore for creek surveillance.

Next day, the local villagers reported the sighting of poachers the previous night. It was decided that the landing parties would start their operations from the last sighting position. The landing party was divided into subgroups and started combing the jungle from one side. After an extensive search for seven hours, a group of about 15 poachers was sighted by the police team. However, the poachers fled the forest. One of the Coast Guard subgroups charged towards the noise and fired a shot in the air to scare the poachers. This resulted in scattering the poachers. But no poachers could be caught that day.

In the evening, the landing party returned to the beach and was split into two groups. One group went back to the village and subdivided into subgroups to lay an ambush by staying in the houses close to the forest at the foothill area where the poachers had been sighted. The other group camped at the sea-shore for creek surveillance. The extensive search resulted in the apprehension of two poachers who were separated from the groups the previous day after firing by a landing party. At the same time, the police team conducting a search from southwards reported apprehension of 11 more poachers. Thus, a total of 16 poachers were apprehended by the search teams. All the poachers were embarked onboard CGS Lakshmi Bai and brought to Port Blair for further investigation. The operation proved the ability of the determined Coast Guard men to perform equally well in the marshes and forests.