Episode: KPN 29-08-2022

Drug smuggling – Army troops could be deployed in Rohingya camps

Bangladesh Army troops would be deployed in Rohingya camps to stop drugs from being smuggled into Bangladesh if necessary, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said.

Stating that the efforts of the Bangladesh government were underway to repatriate the Rohingya refugees, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said Army troops would be deployed in Rohingya refugee camps if necessary to prevent crimes and check smuggling of drugs into the country.

“Stating that the efforts of the Bangladesh government were underway to repatriate the Rohingya refugees, Army troops would be deployed in Rohingya refugee camps if necessary to prevent crimes and check smuggling of drugs into the country. Incidents of crimes such as murder, robbery, rape, drug smuggling and several other criminal activities have increased nearly seven times in the last five years in the Cox’s Bazar area.”

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal

Incidents of crimes such as murder, robbery, rape, drug smuggling and several other criminal activities have increased nearly seven times in the last five years in the Cox’s Bazar area, officials said.

“Mobile phones of the Rohingya refugees will be tracked so that they cannot commit any illegal activities,” he told reporters at the Secretariat on Sunday.

Regarding the government’s efforts to resolve the Rohingya crisis, the minister said: “I hope the Rohingyas will be repatriated soon. Government’s efforts are still on.”

The number of yaba pills, a contraband drug, smuggled into Bangladesh from neighbouring Myanmar has surged by two and a half times under the current military regime compared to the amount reported during the rule of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

This information was obtained from the meeting minutes of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told the meeting that despite negotiations on the issue, the Myanmar military regime is patronizing the smuggling of yaba pills to Bangladesh, which is why the smuggling of the illegal drug has increased.

He mentioned that apart from the most-used route bordering the Naf River the contrabands enter Bangladesh through the remote land border areas too.

Tagged as: APBn, Burma-Bangladesh border, Arakan Army, Rohingya, IDP camp in Arakan, Bangadesh refugee camp, Rohingya Refugee, Maungdaw, Rohingya refugee camp, Military Council force, Buthidaung, BGP, Rathedaung, Akyab, Burma, Kutupalong, Myanmar, Teknaf, Arakan, Balukhali, Rakhine, RRRC, Sittwe.