Teknaf, Bangladesh: The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) pushed back 1,768 Rohingya people to Burma in 2011. The majority were arrested along the Burma-Bangladesh border while attempting to enter Bangladesh illegally, according to a BGB official from Teknaf.
“Only 18 Rohingya were sent to a police station after filing a case of illegal border crossing against them.”
In addition, the BGB personnel of Teknaf’s Battalion No. 42 seized 185,832 yaba methamphetamine tablets worth about Taka 55.75 million, 1,084 liters of locally-produced liquor, 6,559 bottles of foreign wine worth about Taka 5.14 million, and other contraband goods from the Burma-Bangladesh border last year.
Moreover, BGB personnel also seized onions, garlic, diesel, palm oil, soybean oil, wheat, flour, potatoes, Sonasur, roti, biscuits, and various kinds of cloth and clothing while the goods were being smuggled to Burma, and cattle, including goats, and other contraband goods that were being smuggling to Bangladesh, worth about Taka 93.4 million.
Major Shamsuzzaman Mohamed Ariful Islam, the operations commander of BGB Battalion No. 42 of Teknaf, said, “If the local people cooperate with us, the smuggling of goods and the infiltration of Rohingya people to Bangladesh will be stopped.”
“Last year, we were able to arrest 298 people with smuggling cases filed against them. We hope this year in 2012 we will be able to conduct more operations than last year.”
“If the political weather is favorable to the Rohingya community, the infiltration of Rohingya people to Bangladesh will be stopped, but otherwise it will continue,” said a Bangladeshi trader from Teknaf.
