The Rohingyas living in refugee camps near Cox’s Bazar border have been involved in a variety of criminal acts, which is a security threat for Chittagong and adjacent areas, according to police.
They say the Rohingya people use fake addresses to commit crimes, including murder, rape, robbery, human trafficking and abduction, in southern Chittagong and adjacent areas, and later go into hiding at the camps.
Such allegations are not new but law enforcement officials are concerned as they say crimes committed by the Rohingyas have increased at an alarming rate.
Additional Superintendent of Police (DSB) Mohammed Naimul Hasan of Chittagong district police yesterday said Rohingyas had formed a gang to abduct children from different areas of the port city with a view to making lots of money fast.
“The kidnappers threaten the victims’ families by saying that they will smuggle the organs of the children if ransoms are not paid,” said Naimul Hasan while addressing a press briefing at the office of Chittagong’s superintendent of police yesterday.
The briefing was arranged after police rescued nine-year-old Imtiazur Rahman Sazzad, son of Osman Gani, from Nakhon Chari area near the border with Myanmar in Teknaf on Tuesday night.
Sazzad was kidnapped by a gang of Rohingyas from Chittagong’s Satkania upazila on October 13.
Police also arrested three Rohingyas - Dudu Miah, 26, his brother Khuilla Miah, 36, and Abul Hashem, 25 - from Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar on the night they rescued Sazzad, said ASP Naimul, adding that the trio hail from Myanmar’s Maungdaw.
He said another Rohingya man Nur Alam abducted Sazzad from the boy’s house in Satkania’s Rasulabad area and took the victim near Myanmar border.
Sazzad’s family lodged a case with Satkania police station against Nur Alam and three others a day after he was kidnapped.
A team of Satkania police raided several areas in Ukhiya and Teknaf and arrested the three men, said ASP Naimul.
“Based on information given by the detainees, police raided a hilly area in Tambu, which is near the Myanmar border in Teknaf, and rescued Sazzad from there. But Nur Alam and another kidnapper fled after sensing the presence of police.”
The police official said the Rohingyas get along with locals easily and later commit crimes.
“Police are investigating the matter and are also trying to detain the other accused of the case filed over Sazzad’s abduction,” he added.
Amnesty: Trafficking to resume in South Asia
Meanwhile, Amnesty International warned yesterday that human traffickers would resume their brutal trade across Southeast Asia despite a regional crackdown.
It said crackdown and promises by regional governments to address the crisis have done little to dismantle criminal networks.
“There’s another disaster looming on the Andaman Sea unless governments act urgently,” Anna Shea, refugee researcher at Amnesty International, said.