Resh­ma Ra­goonath

Fish­er­man Ky­rool Mo­hammed be­came emo­tion­al yes­ter­day while re­count­ing his har­row­ing en­counter with cut­lass-wield­ing pi­rates who beat and robbed both him and his broth­er, Nazir Ho­sein, on Sat­ur­day night. The pi­rates, who made off the with men's boat en­gine and oth­er items in­clud­ing their food stuff, left the broth­ers tied up and drift­ing in the wa­ters off the Shore of Peace, Mos­qui­to Creek, South Oropouche near the Godineay Riv­er. Mo­hammed, 40, of Vic­to­ria Vil­lage, San Fer­nan­do, said al­though he man­aged to free him­self and un­tie his broth­er's hands they had to be res­cued by a pass­ing boat around 6 am yes­ter­day.

The 46-year-old Ho­sein and a fa­ther of two from of Vic­to­ria Vil­lage, Cross Cross­ing, San Fer­nan­do, was vis­i­bly shak­en by the at­tack and had trou­ble de­scrib­ing what tran­spired on Sat­ur­day. The fish­er­man, who re­ceived a chop to the right side of his head and was planassed (beat­en with the flat side of the cut­lass) about the body, said he was un­sure about what was go­ing to hap­pen to him as his hands were be­ing tied be­hind his back. Ho­sein said af­ter the pi­rates tied them up and or­dered them to lie on the boat floor, they were re­lieved of their boat en­gine and oth­er items, in­clud­ing their fu­el. The pi­rates then told the men they were go­ing to die as they vowed to throw gas on the ves­sel and set it afire.

"I start to beg. I tell them oh God, you done take we en­gine, leave we nah. I tell them don't throw no gas. I start beg­ging," Ho­sein said as he shook his head. The pi­rates, he said, spared them as they sped off in their boat. Ho­sein and Mo­hammed said they were grate­ful to be alive. Ho­sein, who sells fish at King's Wharf, San Fer­nan­do, said it was not the first time he was at­tacked by pi­rates. Last Au­gust, Ho­sein and his nephew where beat­en and at­tacked by pi­rates. Both men blamed a lack of reg­u­lar pa­trols from the T&T Coast Guard for the at­tack. Ho­sein stat­ed for the past two weeks he has not seen a T&T Coast Guard pa­trol. A re­port was lodged at the Oropouche Po­lice sta­tion.