According to Wahidullah Sarker, the officer-in-charge of Rajasthali Police Station, Rannin Soe (45), a Burmese national and an Arakan Army commander, who also holds Netherlands citizenship and is a local doctor, was arrested and charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act for an Arakan Army attack on a Bangladeshi border patrol, which left one guard injured.

Ranin Soe was also charged for staying illegally in Taidong Para, a hill town in the district near the frontier with western Burma's, Arakan (Rakhine) State.
 
Renin Soe came to Rajasthali as a political refugee in 1996-97, when the Burma Army started cracking down on rebels in Arakan (Rakhine) State. He rented a house in Taidongpara and mixed in with the local population while Arakan Army members visited him at home, according to a local newspaper quoting Dev Datta Bikash Tonchongya, a Rajasthali resident.

He said: "Ranin Soe used to run a chemists in Rajasthali. He married a local woman and lived in the Netherlands after getting asylum."

According to Md Shahidullah, the additional superintendent of police (crime) in Rangamati, over the past 18 years Renin Soe had made frequent visits to the region from the Netherlands, staying at his house in Rajasthali.

Mr Shahidullah said: "He has been a leader of the rebel group the Arakan Army. We have recovered his Dutch passport, one laptop, two mobile phones, Arakan Army uniforms, some Indian currency and papers from his possession."

He added that Rannin Soe had confessed to being involved with the Arakan Army and living in Rajasthali since 1997.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Sabrina Ali remanded Renin Soe for five days under the Anti-Terrorism Act, though the police had asked for him to be remanded for 10 days.

Mr Shahidullah said that police had also arrested one of Ranin Soe's aides, Aung Nu Young, (25) at Ranin Soe's house. Previously, whilst looking for Ranin Soe, they had also detained Cha Sui Aung Marma and Mong Cha Aung Marma, the caretakers at the house, on 27 and 28 August.

Ashfaqur Rahman, a former Bangladeshi career diplomat and Southeast Asia expert said: "The Arakan Army is basically a rogue element. They want a homeland comprising the Arakan State of Burma and some parts of Chittagong (Bangladesh). They cannot achieve success because both Burma and Bangladesh are very tough on them."

According to the Myanmar Times Lieutenant Colonel Nyo Tun Aung of the Arakan Army said: "We were using horses to carry food and medical supplies. We asked BGB to return the animals but BGB refused, and fighting started in the Barha Madok area of Thanchi."

He also told the Irrawaddy: ""We have already explained to the Bangladeshi government that the Arakan Army is not the enemy... We are trying to send a letter to the Bangladesh Prime Minister and we would like to say sorry for the conflict and that we would like to prevent this happening again in the future."

On 26 August a group of Arakan Army soldiers attacked a Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) patrol team and injured a BGB officer in Thanchi in Bandarban. Following that incident Ranin Soe went into hiding.

The Arakan Army is fighting the Burmese government to carve out a separate state in Rakhine State. Established in April 2009, its mission, among other goals, is to fight for the self-determination of "the people of Arakan" and safeguard their national identity and cultural heritage, according to its official website.

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI