On a quest to change his fortune, Salamat Ullah left his home in Teknaf for Malaysia in October last year.
Crimes, particularly those related to narcotics and murders, have witnessed a significant rise inside the Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps over the last seven months.
The EU will continue to support the Rohingya people for their right to return to their homeland, said Eamon Gilmore, the EU’s special representative for human rights.
Amid mounting global pressure, a 17-member Myanmar delegation yesterday started verifying the identities of the Rohingya refugees in Teknaf, as the first group of Myanmar’s displaced people is expected to be repatriated in a few months.
Amid the armed conflicts along the border over the last two months, gang members living in the no-man’s-land entered Bangladesh and engaged in criminal activities, including murders, at the refugee camps, police and locals said.
Panic grips the locals in bordering areas of Cox’s Bazar’s Whaikhyang and Bandarban’s Tambru, as heavy gunfire and intermittent shelling on the Myanmar side have been heard again after a pause of 10 days.
As firing and mortar shelling in Myanmar were now heard from Ukhiya border of Cox’s Bazar yesterday, the local authorities warned the boat owners of not carrying Rohingyas amid fear of their fresh entry.
Amid incessant gunfire and mortar shelling in Myanmar close to the Bangladesh border, the local administration is planning to evacuate around 300 families in Ghumdhum union of Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari upazila.
The failure of the second attempt to begin repatriating the Rohingyas has once again exposed Myanmar’s lack of sincerity, experts said. Rohingyas say Myanmar has not taken into consideration any of their core demands -- guarantee of citizenship, recognition as an
The second attempt to start repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar today may turn out to be futile, as hardly any refugees seem to be willing to go back.
The much-awaited Rohingya repatriation is set to begin on Thursday, around 10 months after the first attempt failed as the refugees didn’t choose to go back.
Police are making preparations for a second surrender programme of yaba godfathers and dealers in Cox’s Bazar.
As law enforcers are looking into the properties of 102 yaba godfathers and dealers who have surrendered, their families and paid agents are trying to sell off the assets fearing those would be confiscated.
The critical biodiversity areas in Cox’s Bazar -- Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary, Himchhari National Park and Inani National Park -- face a grave risk of peril due to high level of human interventions following the Rohingya influx, according to two recent studies.
The surrender of 102 drug lords on February 16 now seems merely an eyewash as the yaba empire in Teknaf remains mostly intact with some of their family members and paid agents taking care of the illegal trade.
From political leaders to businessmen, fish traders to poultry farm owners and brickfield workers to tailors -- the professions of 102 yaba godfathers and dealers who surrendered to police on February 16 are as varied as their age.
A new strategy of yaba smuggling, involving fresh routes and hundi traders, has been at work since the surrender of 102 godfathers and dealers in Cox's Bazar in February.
The type of light guns put on display during the recent surrender of 102 narcos in Teknaf is easily available in Moheshkhali island, where illegal makeshift factories manufacture such firearms.
