Maungdaw, Arakan State: A son was arrested for his mother’s stand against the Burma’s border security force (Nasaka) and was fined Kyat 330,000 on September 8, in Maungdaw Township, said a close relative of the victim.

At 2 am on September 8, four Nasaka personnel led by Corporal Maung Tin Oo (of Kular Bill Nasaka outpost under the Nasaka Headquarters of Kawar Bill of Maungdaw Township) went to the house of Arab Ulla (28), son of Fazal Ahmed. The Nasaka personnel tried to enter the house to arrest Arab Ullah on the allegation that he had illegally crossed the Burma-Bangladesh border.

Regarding this Arab Ullah’s mother asked the Nasaka not to enter the house at night. If the matter was very important, they were requested to come the next day. This irked the Nasaka and they ordered her son to appear at the Nasaka camp the next morning. The Nasaka Director Lt. Col Aung Gyi had earlier indicated to the villagers not to allow any one into their homes at night.

The next morning, when the victim Arab Ullah went to the Nasaka camp, he was arrested and detained at the headquarters over the border-crossing allegation. The conditions in the detention center in the Nasaka headquarters are terrible. It is a big room with small windows, and inside the room it's very dark. Detainees do not see each other in the room and can only hear each other’s voices. The detainees are severely tortured and allowed to see their family members only when they go there with food, said a local trader.

The victim Arab Ullah is a clothes trader in Maungdaw Town and he did not go to Bangladesh. The concerned authorities bring allegations against the Rohingya people who are able to pay money to them after arrest and torture. People pay money because of fear of torture in the detention center.

However, he was released on that day after paying 330,000 Kyat, said another close relative preferring not to be named.

This is a deliberate act against the Rohingya community to make people penniless and push them into poverty, said a schoolteacher.