The Burmese navy warship 554 and 2 other ships have been anchored in the Naaf River since July 13. The naval ships will be in the river that forms the Burma-Bangladesh border, near Maungdow Town, for about a month, according to BGB sources.
Lt. Col. Jahid Hassan, BGB commanding officer for battalion 42, complained when the Burmese warships arrived only to discover that Chittagong authorities had already been notified by the Burma military. He denied that the warships are creating tension between Bangladeshi border officials and their Burmese counterparts.
“The warships were sent for border protection duties for an interim period before a new force is deployed on the border.”
Nasaka was replaced by a national police force a day before the ships arrived in the river. The former border guard force that was established in 1993 was well known for its extrajudicial killings, torture and extortion. Many Rohingya villagers have already complained that the new police force is also involved in extortion rackets.
The Bangladesh navy, coastguard and BGB will be closely monitoring the naval ships, Hassan said.
The warship 554 is anchored near Poung Zarr (Ashika Para), and the other two are located close to Alay than Kyaw and Kyauk Pundhu ( Sitar Pawrika).
