It was with the warmest of hearts and deepest empathy for human suffering that we welcomed nearly a million Rohingya refugees. But due to their prolonged stay and violent behavior and terrorist activities of some of the Rohingyas, the sympathetic view of that time is changing. During the ‘2017 Ethnic Cleansing Operation’ by the Myanmar military, one of the biggest humanitarian crises in the history of civilization, the ‘Mother of Humanity’ then and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh ‘Sheikh Hasina’ opened Bangladesh’s border to give shelter and safety to nearly 1.2 million Rohingya people on humanitarian ground.
Bangladesh, a lower-middle-income country with a land of only 56 thousand square miles and a population of nearly 160 million dares to give shelter to 1.2 million refugees. While being compelled to assuming enormous amount of her limited resources to meet costs and impacts incurred upon her economy, society and environment, Bangladesh still sheltering them.
Managing 1.2 million people with nothing to do is challenging. Making the situation worse, some of them are armed and attached to militant activities. currently at least 50,000 Rohingyas are involved in various crimes. Among them, 10,000 Rohingyas are known to be involved in terrible activities. These Rohingyas are involved in murders, disappearances, kidnappings and robberies, and are becoming difficult to control through arrests and legal action. According to the law enforcing agencies, more than 200 cases of abduction have taken place in the last December-January alone. In addition, 135 murders have occurred in the camp in the last five years, almost all of them are camp leaders and supported repatriation.
Most of those who are involved in Yaba, Ice and various drug trade are Rohingyas. They are creating different groups and sub-groups of criminals among themselves and clashing with different groups within themselves to maintain dominance in the camp. Fifteen to 20 active armed terrorist groups have been formed within the Rohingya camps to control and dominate the criminal world, and each group has between 30 and 100 members. They are controlling the ongoing drug trade and other illegal activities. Camps become crime sanctuaries from evening onwards and incidents like shootings and murders are taking place over trivial incidents.
As drug shipments from Myanmar arrive at Rohingya camps, they have become one of the transit points for drug trafficking in the country. Millions of pieces of yaba and new drug crystal meth are spreading in different parts of the country through these camps. According to the information received, more than millions of Rupees are traded in the camps every day. An estimated 30 to 40 million Yaba are exchanged daily.
Law enforcing agencies including Armed Police Battalion (APBn) and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) are relentlessly working to control the overall situation in the camp and continue to identify and arrest the terrorists. Around 190 local and foreign firearms have been recovered from the Rohingya camps. Around 2,309 cases have been filed against 5,229 accused Rohingyas for 17 types of crimes.
A part of the Rohingyas do not want to return home. Myanmar authorities are believed to be in contact with this armed group. The opponents of repatriation are colluding with the Myanmar government to keep the Rohingyas in Bangladesh instead of returning to Myanmar. They are used to living a life of luxury. To help them, Myanmar has provided unrestricted opportunities for smuggling of yaba, drugs, weapons and other goods. Many believe that Myanmar is supporting this group.
According to the report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, the production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military’s seizure of power. In 2022, Myanmar saw a 33% increase in cultivation of Poppies. The overall value of the Myanmar opium economy ranges between $660 million to $2 billion, depending on how much was sold locally, and how much of the raw opium was processed into heroin or other drugs. Production estimates hit a bottom of 400 metric tons in 2020. After rising slightly in 2021, that spiked in 2022 to an estimated 790 metric tons. Virtually all the heroin reported in East and Southeast Asia and Australia originates in Myanmar, and the country remains the second-largest opium and heroin producer in the world after Afghanistan.
Intelligence report says that, there are at least 48 Yaba factories in Rakhine, Maungdaw and Shan States of Myanmar. These extremist activities and the insecurity in the camps and border could transcend to Bangladesh anytime and create insecurity for all Indo-Pacific countries.
Moreover, there is a growing concern over the recruitment of refugees by the extremist networks which could fuel militancy not only in Bangladesh but also across the whole region. So, it’s mandatory that the host country take cautious actions on this. Law enforcing agencies of Bangladesh has no other option rather than increasing operations or surveillance in the camp area, in order to ensure safety and security to the innocent Rohingyas in the camp, host community and the whole region.
Unexpectedly, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported (Jan. 18, 2023) that, Bangladesh’s Armed Police Battalion (APBn) is committing rampant human rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests, extortion and harassment, against Rohingya refugees in camps in Cox’s Bazar, forgetting the sacrifices and dedications of the law enforcement agencies.
National heroes like – Squadron Leader Rizwan Rushdi, an intelligence officer of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), who has sacrificed his life in a drug raid along Myanmar border should be respected and all other law enforcing personnel, who are working tirelessly to maintain peace, should be the symbol of our pride.
[Photo by Tasnim News Agency, via Wikimedia Commons]
Md. Mustakim Ahmed is an Associate Professor of the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
