Following the last week's victory at a UN court in Bangladesh's maritime boundary claims to Myanmar, Bangladesh Navy has made its first patrol across the settled boundary in the Bay of Bengal.
A competent navy source said that three ships in Chittagong and one in Mongla were deployed during the patrol on March 15 -- a day after the verdict was pronounced. Of them, two ships cruised down south straight from the Saint Martin's Island.
A navy official, who returned from the patrol Sunday, told The Daily Star, “We cruised up to 175 nautical miles into the Bay. We usually do not patrol this deep. But the sea was quiet and we had our orders.
“We did not see any Myanmar ship in our territory. The only Myanmar ship we saw was well within their territory,” said the officer.
On March 14, Bangladesh won the verdict at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which sustained its claim to 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic and territorial rights in the Bay of Bengal, rejecting the claims of Myanmar. With this, Bangladesh got its right in a sea area of 1.11 lakh square miles.
Read the full story at The Daily Star