Teknaf, Bangladesh: Two visitors who visited their relatives in the Nayapara official refugee camp were arrested by the camp police on February 18, a relative of the men said.
“They were arrested after leaving the camp on the road to Teknaf and Cox’s Bazar near the camp at about 6:00 pm,” according to the source.
They were identified as Mohamed Rafique (18) and Jamil Ahamed (20),from Maungdaw Township, Arakan State.
They came to Bangladesh from Burma to see their relatives at the Nayapara camp without a border pass.
Nurul Islam, the camp police inspector informed the acting Camp-in-Charge about the visitors.
Their relatives requested police inspector Nurul Islam and the acting Camp-in-Charge, Jalal Uddin, of Kutupalong official camp, release them but the request was ignored. However, the camp-in-charge received a bribe of Taka 20,000 for their release, said a source who refused to be named.
“But, the police inspector also took Taka 7,500 from the visitors, who were detained in the police camp for one night and one day. They were also beaten severely,” according to the source.
On February 19, at about 11: 00 pm, they were handed over to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) at Dum Dum Meah checkpoint and they were pushed back into Burma that night.
Camp authorities accused the men of being human traffickers in the local newspaper, according to sources.
Inspector Nurul Islam is accused of harassing the official refugees through arbitrary arrest, seizing mobile phones and computers and also restricting their movements, since he was appointed at the refugee camp.
