Cox?s Bazar, Nov 17 : Bangladesh Navy in Cox's Bazar seized on Monday a trawler in the Bay of Bengal carrying 614 people, including crew members, human traffickers and the trafficking victims, to Malaysia illegally.
Lt Mostafa Kamal, the force's station commander at St Martin's Island, told The Daily Observer on Monday that that they seized the trawler around 2:30pm during their regular patrol in the southeast area of St Martin's Island in Teknaf upazila.   
Navy Commodore Nayum told our Cox's Bazar correspondent that they had information that a large number of people may be trafficked to Malaysia today through the channel. Bangladesh Navy's Saint Martin's Forward Base said that the trawler was held around 9:30am on Monday from 50 nautical miles off the coast of the island, source added.
The trawler was being brought back and it would take until Tuesday morning to reach the coast, added the navy officer.
Of the detained, 14 were crew members, 20 women and children and 540 males, including citizens of both Bangladesh and Myanmar.