The investigation into a recently arrested Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) leader has found that the separatist group has been scrambling its members to various other countries to regain the trust of Rohingya expatriates and arrange funding.
According to intelligence agencies conducting special surveillance of the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, Arsa has lost the trust of the Rohingya community both in and outside the camps due to its links with terrorist activities. Distrust for Arsa intensified following the assassination of prominent Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah.
As a result of this growing distrust, funds donated from Rohingyas to Arsa have declined sharply. Arsa has also lost its alternative revenue stream, the yaba trade, to emerging terrorist organization Nabi Hussain Bahini, intelligence sources added.
In light of this funding crunch, Arsa has been deploying its leaders of all levels to various countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, to win the support of Rohingya expatriates for their goal of forming an independent Islamic state in Arakan. The Arsa members have been travelling by using fake Bangladeshi passports and national ID cards.
On February 10, immigration police arrested Arsa Commander Mohammad Asadullah while he was heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on an Umrah visa with a forged Bangladeshi passport.
File photo: Mohib Ullah, a teacher turned rights activist, was one of the most high-profile advocates for the Rohingyas. He was invited to the White House and to speak to the UN Human Rights Council | Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune According to police sources, Asadullah, 32, lived in Rohingya camp number 12 of Ukhiya upazila in Cox's Bazar. On January 9, he was charged with murder in a case filed with Ukhiya police station.
Following the arrest of Asadullah, Chittagong Metropolitan Police Detective Branch (North) conducted a special operation, arresting a total of six persons, including four illegal passport makers and two Rohingya nationals.
The arrestees were identified as Md Khusru Parvez, 36, Md Taslim 28, Md Ismail, 20, and Md Farooq, 27. The arrested Rohingya nationals were identified as Md Jaber, 25, and Razi Alam, 27.
Furthermore, five forged Bangladeshi passports and one national identity card were seized, according to CMP DB North Zone Deputy Commissioner Nihad Adnan Taiyan.
The detained Asadullah got the passport by using an address in Chittagong's Patiya upazila. On November 27 last year, a Bangladeshi passport was issued in his name.
He obtained the passport after applying at the city's Panchlaish regional office. Earlier, on October 10, 2022, a National Identity Card (NID) was issued in his name. In the national identity card, the address of Chittagong's Double Mooring Police Station was used. He received a ten-year e-passport that will be valid until November 2032.
CMP DB North Zone Deputy Commissioner Nihad Adnan Taiyan said a syndicate is preparing Bangladeshi passports for Rohingya nationals and sending them abroad. The Rohingyas need Tk4-5 lakh to obtain a passport, visa, and to travel.
Dhaka TribuneThe only information the Rohingyas need to provide is their name and photo. Everything else, from parents' names to the permanent address, is forged.
Although the syndicate carried out most of its activities in Chittagong, it would also escort the Rohingya “applicants” to Dhaka to record their fingerprint.
It has been learned that detained ARSA leader Asadullah had been the chief of the separatist organization's financial department for a long time. He had been smuggling a major portion of the Yaba business's profits to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Middle East using Hundi.
According to Rohingya sources, he was on his way to Saudi Arabia urgently due to an internal dispute over smuggled money.
The sources also said that not only Arsa leader Asadullah, but also Chikquinna and his brother Ismail, both notorious yaba smugglers, have collected forged national identity cards.
Panglakhali Union Chairman and Repatriation and Rohingya Prevention Committee General Secretary M Gafur Uddin Chowdhury acknowledged that a village police official had even helped a Rohingya obtain a fake passport.
“Without my knowledge or permission, Nur Hossain (a village police official) was able to create a National Identity Card that identified his son-in-law Rohingya Moktar Hossain as his own son. After learning about it, I complained to the Election Commission about two months ago,” he said.
A view of sheds and concrete structures built for thousands of displaced Rohingya from Myanmar on Bhasan Char island in Bangladesh, December 29, 2020 ReutersMoktar Hossain is reportedly the son of infamous Rohingya terrorist Yar Mohammad.
When asked about the matter, Nurul Hossain said: “There is no problem if others do it, but if I do it, it is a large issue. Apart from my issue, there are many other issues in the country, look into them. Do whatever you want.”
Rohingya sources said thousands of forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens spend large sums of money and manage local public representatives and associated government officials to collect birth certificates, national identity cards, passports, and other important documents and migrate to various countries around the world, including the Middle East.
M Gafur Uddin Chowdhury said: “The ratio at which Rohingyas become citizens of Bangladesh is being manipulated by dishonest officials in exchange for large sums of money. If this trend continues, the residents' existence will be threatened. The country's internal security will be seriously compromised if action is not taken to investigate those involved in such heinous crimes from the highest levels of government.”