Cox's Bazaar: About 70 Rohingya people and some local Bengalis assembled in Cox's Bazaar near the western Burmese border for a week planning to travel to Malaysia over sea, said a Rohingya youth in the group on condition of anonymity.

"We arrived in Bangladesh from Buthidaung in northern Arakan last week on our way to Malaysia and now we are preparing to buy a boat for our trip," he said.

The travel agent in Cox's Bazaar is collecting 20,000 Taka from each person who wishes to travel to Malaysia in order to buy the boat.

The young man (20) told the Narinjara reporter in Kalataw Li Para in Cox's Bazaar that he brought 500,000 Burmese kyats from his home and spent 100,000 kyat getting to Bangladesh from Burma. He has already transferred 300,000 kyat to the agent for the purchase of the boat.

According to local sources, many people who came to Bangladesh from Burma on their way to Malaysia went into hiding after a recent tragedy where over 300 migrants were feared drowned at sea after being towed out by the Thai Navy. However, they are now again trying to travel to Malaysia.

A resident from Cox's Bazaar said that because the Bangladesh coast is very long, anybody can easily go out to sea in a boat. Many of the migrants travelling to Malaysia behave like fishermen and it is difficult for Bangladesh law enforcement agencies to discern who is travelling to Malaysia and who are real fishermen.

There are three gathering points in Bangladesh for those travelling to Malaysia -- Moheshkali, Kutubdia Fisheries Ghat, and Shah Parir Dweep in Cox's Bazaar. The route passes through the Bay of Bengal to Thailand and from there overland into Malaysia.

A source from the border said there is a huge syndicate of human traffickers based in Burma, Thailand, and Malaysia, and they typically use this route for taking people to Malaysia.

The traffickers choose winter as the best time for arranging the desperate journey because the sea remains relatively calm during this season, said the source.

Hundreds of Rohingya people from Arakan State cross into Bangladesh every year, live in Cox's Bazaar illegally, and then contact the traffickers to get to Malaysia via sea.

The Rohingya people are forbidden to marry or travel without permission of the Burmese military regime, and they are often used by the Burmese authorities as forced labour. Because of this oppression many have left their homeland in Arakan and headed to Malaysia in search of a better life.