Bangladesh Coast Guard

department · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head: Rear Admiral Md Ziaul Hoque
Role: Director General
Annual budget: —
Staff: 3585
Established: 1995
Legal basis: Bangladesh Coast Guard Act 1994 (Act No. 26 of 1994), which established the force from 14 February 1995; re-enacted and consolidated as Bangladesh Coast Guard Act 2016 (Act No. 9 of 2016), which modernised the force's legal framework across 13 chapters and 135 articles

BCG is running simultaneous operational campaigns in three distinct threat corridors: (1) 58-day Bay of Bengal fishing ban enforcement (14 April to 11 June 2026) with joint Navy-BCG maritime patrols; (2) sustained Sundarbans anti-piracy operations under 'Operation Restore Peace in Sundarbans' and 'Operation Mangrove Shield', yielding 40 arrests and 46 weapons seized in the past year; (3) Cox's Bazar corridor anti-smuggling and Rohingya boat interdiction, most recently netting 10 Parvez Bahini pirates and 8 smugglers in April 2026. Simultaneously, the force is mid-expansion under the Home Minister's April 2026 modernisation announcement targeting 10,000 personnel and a new Gazaria dockyard.

Recent activity

2026-02-12 other BCG deployed 3,585 personnel in 100 platoons across 332 polling centres in 10 coastal and riverine districts (Narayanganj, Chandpur, Khulna, Chattogram, Lakshmipur, Noakhali, Cox's Bazar, Barisal, Patuakhali, Bhola) from 18 January to 14 February to provide security for the 13th national parliamentary election and constitutional referendum. ↗↗↗
2026-02-14 other BCG observed its 31st founding anniversary and Coast Guard Day 2026; Home Ministry reviewed force capabilities and ongoing modernisation progress at the ceremony. ↗
2026-02-20 other Coast Guard arrested nine pirates including ring leader Jahangir (28) from Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar in an anti-piracy operation in the Bay of Bengal. ↗↗
2026-03-10 other BSS reported BCG-led joint forces (Navy, RAB, Police) had arrested 61 pirates and seized 80 firearms, 599 rounds of live ammunition, and 308 rounds of blank ammunition during 16 months of intensified anti-piracy operations in the Sundarbans, rescuing 78 fishermen and three tourists from gangs including Karim-Sharif, Nana Bhai, Chhoto Suman, Alif, and Asabur Bahini. ↗
2026-04-10 other In four simultaneous operations off Cox's Bazar, Coast Guard detained 10 suspected members of the 'Parvez Bahini' pirate gang at Kalatali Beach (seizing 2 firearms, 2 rounds of ammunition, and sharp weapons), rescued 3 fishermen held hostage, detained 5 smugglers with 5,000 litres of diesel and lubricants bound for Myanmar, detained 3 smugglers with 450 sacks of cement, and rescued 9 Bangladeshis whose boat capsized en route to Malaysia. ↗↗
2026-04-15 regulation Government-declared 58-day fishing ban in the Bay of Bengal took effect from midnight 14 April to midnight 11 June 2026; BCG deployed vessels and personnel for enforcement patrols along the coast to prevent illegal fishing and interdict foreign fishing vessels entering Bangladesh waters during the ban. ↗↗↗
2026-04-19 other BCG and Bangladesh Navy conducted a joint raid at a Sea Heart warehouse in Dangarchar (Karnaphuli police station, Chattogram), seizing 32.5 lakh metres (3.25 million metres) of illegal fishing nets estimated at Tk 312 crore; nets were subsequently destroyed by burning in the presence of Fisheries Department officials. ↗↗↗
2026-04-28 policy Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed announced a comprehensive BCG modernisation plan at the Coast Guard Day 2026 ceremony: manpower to be increased to 10,000 (from ~3,585), nine ageing vessels to be replaced by locally built patrol vessels, a modern dockyard to be established in Gazaria (Munshiganj), three surveillance drones already inducted, helicopters and advanced maritime surveillance systems to be procured, and two offshore patrol vessels plus one multi-role response vessel under construction with JICA support. ↗↗↗
2026-05-10 other BSS reported that BCG-led joint forces had arrested 40 pirates and seized 46 weapons (including 10 live shells, 186 cartridges, 299 blank cartridges, and two homemade bombs) in the Sundarbans over the previous twelve months under 'Operation Restore Peace in Sundarbans' and 'Operation Mangrove Shield', with 37 fishermen and 2 tourists rescued over 18 months of joint operations. ↗↗↗

Provenance & notes

Established 14 February 1995 under the Coast Guard Act 1994 (Act No. 26 of 1994), starting with two patrol craft seconded from the Bangladesh Navy; 31st founding anniversary observed February 14, 2026. The 1994 Act was re-enacted and consolidated as the Bangladesh Coast Guard Act 2016 (Act No. 9 of 2016), which is the current governing statute. Operationally under Public Security Division of Ministry of Home Affairs. The Director General is customarily a serving Rear Admiral of the Bangladesh Navy seconded to BCG; Rear Admiral Md Ziaul Hoque is the 15th DG, appointed by Ministry of Public Administration notification September 29, 2024, took charge October 31, 2024. staff_count of 3,585 reflects the election-deployment figure (3,585 personnel in 100 platoons, January-February 2026) and is consistent with earlier reported strength of ~3,339; the Home Minister's April 2026 announcement targets expansion to 10,000. annual_budget_bdt is null: BCG budget is not separately itemised in publicly available MoF budget portal documents reviewed; it falls within the Ministry of Home Affairs allocation. The '58-day ban' runs 14 April to 11 June 2026 (exactly 58 days) per government gazette; BCG enforcement patrols are confirmed by multiple BSS and TBS reports. The Rohingya interdiction note references a January 9, 2026 BCG press release (Lt Cdr Siam-ul-Haq) on five Rohingya traffickers arrested off Kolatoli Beach; Rohingya sea-crossing data (2,800+ attempts January-April 2026) from UNHCR via Al Jazeera April 14, 2026.

Bangladesh Coast Guard

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