The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacks in the refugee camps with increasingly ruthless actions against their opponents. Like the refugees, local farmers are also victims of kidnapping for extortion purposes. According to Bangladeshi law enforcement, they have killed 123 people and kidnapped another 207 in the past five years.
Dhaka () – Homicides are becoming more frequent in the Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar, the area of Bangladesh on the border with Myanmar where 1.2 million refugees have lived for years in 33 camps. On January 8, armed terrorists killed Mohammad Salim, a local leader, while another member of the Rohingya community, Abdul Basar, lives in fear of being targeted next. He stated that he had been threatened by telephone after the murder of his friend Ahmad Rashid. Abdul Basar lives in a secret place to keep himself safe.
Rohingya refugees report that the armed organization Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) – the Myanmar-based pro-independence militia – is acting more and more openly in Cox’s Bazar, including with sophisticated weapons and grenades. His hideout is in the Rohingya camp on the Zero Line (Bangladesh-Myanmar border) in the Tumbru area, where it is impossible for the Bangladeshi police to take repressive measures.
Last Friday a grenade was found in the Balukhali 8 camp in Ukhia, Cox’s Bazar district, and a refugee was arrested in the house where it had been hidden. The captain of the local police detachment, Amir Zafar, told reporters that the grenade appeared to come from abroad, although he could not specify the country.
Like the Rohingya, the local Bangladeshi community is also under threat. Terrorists build shelters in the hills and forests of Teknaf, kidnap citizens of the country and hold for ransom. According to Bangladeshi law enforcement, there are between 10 and 14 Rohingya militant groups who finance themselves by smuggling yaba and gold into the refugee camps. A year and a half ago, following the assassination of the main Rohingya leader, Muhibullah, the terrorists were driven out of the reception camps and settled in the mountains and forests. To get money, they loot the houses of local people and kidnap people for ransom. Nearly 70,000 people in 15 Teknaf villages live in terror.
The last episode was the kidnapping of four peasants from the Lechuaprang area on the morning of January 8. Three of them were released in exchange for a ransom of 600,000 taka (about 5,300 euros). However, the fourth, Abdus Salam, is still being held hostage: the kidnappers have asked the family for 1 million taka (almost 9,000 euros). Law enforcement have reported that in the past 5 years they have killed 123 people in the Ukhia and Teknaf reception camps and kidnapped 207 Rohingya for ransom. This rise in crime is making hosting the Rohingya increasingly unpopular in Bangladesh.
