A cattle trader had to be admitted to the Maungdaw District hospital with bullet wounds on Sunday after Nasaka personnel fired on a boat smuggling cattle to Bangladesh, said another cattle trader.

"He was hospitalized yesterday as his condition was serious after he received bullet injuries following firing by Nasaka forces," he said.

The unidentified cattle trader along with seven others was traveling to Bangladesh in a machine boat loaded with 50 heads of cattle to sell in Bangladesh markets, where they fetch much higher prices than in Burma.

When the boat reached a channel between Mae Kyi Chung and St. Martin Island in Bangladesh, Nasaka forces began firing on the boat.

The injured cattle trader was shot and collapsed inside the boat. Nasaka personnel arrested the traders and seized the cattle.

A similar incident took place on December 5 when 10 cattle traders from Man Aung Township were arrested by Nasaka along with 65 heads of cattle on their way to Bangladesh.

Many heads of cattle are exported by Arakanese farmers illegally via sea routes to be sold in Bangladesh during the Eid religious festival. During the Muslim holiday, cattle from Arakan State fetch a premium price in Bangladesh markets, luring Arakanese farmers to export the cattle illegally, in spite of Burma's ban on such trading.