A mobile court in Bhola on Saturday jailed 25 fishermen and fined eight others for netting hilsa from the Meghna and Tetulia rivers in the district defying a government ban.
Among the convicts, 25 fishermen were sentenced to one year jail each while eight others were fined.
According to Asaduzzaman, senior fisheries officer of sadar upazila, upazila fisheries department and coast guard men in separate drives with the help of police detained the 33 fishermen from different parts in Doulatkhan, Borhanudin and sadar upazilas on Friday night. They also seized 13,000 meters of current nets and 20 kilograms of hilsa fish.
The fishermen were sentenced to jail by a mobile court, led by executive magistrate Kamal Hossain, UNB reported.
The seized current nets were burnt and the fish were distributed among poor people.