A top-level team of Myanmar Border Guard Police will join a four-day conference with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in the capital from today to discuss various issues including devising ways to stop smuggling of contraband yaba tablets into Bangladesh.
BGB officials will request their counterpart to inform it about the steps Myanmar has taken stop production of yaba pills in its territory along the border and smuggling them to Bangladesh.
At the deputy chief-level conference to be held in Peelkhana, the six-member Myanmar delegation will be led by Police Brigadier General Thein Oo while Additional Director General Brig Gen Latiful Haider will head the 16-member BGB team. The Bangladesh team also includes representatives from the Home Ministry, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Survey of Bangladesh and Narcotics Department.
In the first meeting held in Myanmar in June, the visiting BGB delegation had handed over a list of 32 factories producing yaba tablets, photos of the major factories along with names of eight drug lords based in Mongdu, Myanmar.
According to the BGB official records, it seized more than 23 lakh yaba pills on the border and held more than 4,500 Myanmar nationals for their involvement in smuggling these tablets in the last one year. Only 10 of them were shown arrested while the others were pushed back.
Bangladesh shares about 271km of the border stretch with Myanmar.
From the Bangladesh side, officials will also bring up issues that include arranging regular flag meetings with the BGP in BOP, company, battalion, sector levels, and arranging regular friendly sport events between the two forces.
Bangladesh will also raise the unwanted incidents of sudden firing on BGB patrol teams on Myanmar border and infiltration.
A Joint Record of Discussion (JRD) will be signed on December 20 and the Myanmar delegation will leave the country next day.
BGB Director General Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed is not leading the BGB team this time as the BGP chief is unavailable. The last meeting was held for the first time at DG-level in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw.
For the last few years Bangladesh has been trying to build good relationships with the Myanmar border guards, but Myanmar was not responding. The relation between the two forces deteriorated mainly following the death of Naik Mizanur Rahman, who was shot dead at Naikkhyangchhari in Bandarban on May 28 by the BGP men.
A gunfight also took place on May 30 when complications arose regarding the handover of Mizan’s body. The body finally arrived the following day. After the incident, Myanmar responded positively to develop the bilateral relations.
The conference is supposed to take place every six months.
Bangladesh in the last meeting also proposed a Coordinated Border Management Plan which would be discussed in this conference.
Asked if the Rohingya issue would be discussed in the meeting, a senior BGB official asking not to be named said they would not raise the issue since it is a political one.
“But we will discuss possible ways to stop nationals of both countries trespassing,” the official said adding that the issue of the banned Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) operatives hiding in Bangladesh would come for discussion.
In the last meeting, the Myanmar authorities had handed over a list of RSO men operating from Bangladesh.
