Crossing Illegal Routes, 33 Rohingya Residents Detained By Bangladeshi Troops

Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - Bangladeshi border guard forces detained 33 Rohingya residents from Myanmar on charges of infiltrating through the Alikadam border zone of Bandarban district, southeastern Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Border Guard members said the detainees included 9 women, 10 men, and 14 children.

Reported by ANTARA, Sunday, February 9, the border guard patrol team conducted operations on Saturday, based on intelligence and 33 Rohingya from Myanmar were detained while they were seeking protection at a shelter project office in Alikadam, border guard official Badruddin Kamal told Anadolu on Sunday.

He added that the Myanmar citizens infiltrated Bangladesh through various intermediaries in the hope of living more safely due to the war situation within Myanmar, according to border guards, adding that the forced repatriation process of 33 detained Rohingya was ongoing.

Earlier on January 11, border guards had detained 53 Rohingya from the city of Alikadam.

Bangladesh faces the ever-increasing burden of refugees in the Cox's Bazar border district, the southeast of the country.

Conflicts between the Myanmar junta government and the insurgent group of the Arakan Army have led to a new wave of Rohingya refugees fleeing to the Bangladeshi border and the largest refugee camps in Cox's Bazar.

Cox's Bazar has now accommodated more than 1.2 million Rohingya since they fled Myanmar's military crackdown in August 2017.

The head of Bangladesh's transitional government, Muhammad Yunus, last month said that about 100,000 other Rohingya had crossed the country's borders and took refuge in refugee camps in Cox's Bazar that are increasingly adding to the burden on Bangladesh.