29 more Myanmar border guards take shelter in Naikhongchhari
Some 29 more members of Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) have entered Bangladesh through the Naikhongchhari border in Bandarban. They have been disarmed and taken into custody by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and police.
BGB headquarters public relations officer Md Shariful Islam and Bandarban deputy commissioner Shah Mozahid Uddin confirmed the development to Prothom Alo.
Bandarban deputy commissioner Shah Mozahid Uddin said, the 29 Myanmar citizens who took shelter in Bangladesh have been disarmed. They are now in the custody of the police and BGB. However, the decision regarding where to relocate them has not been taken as yet. The BGB will provide details in this regard later.
According to the locals and the BGB, the BGP members entered Bangladesh through the area near pillar-45 along the Jamchhari border in Naikhongchhari union and sought shelter at the border outpost of the BGB 11 battalion.
The BGB men disarmed them and gave them shelter in the nearby tea garden owned by local resident Nurul Alam. However, there is no information regarding where they have come from as yet. The Jamchhari border area is a remote and nearly inaccessible area, which is some 20 kilometres away from the Naikhongchhari upazila.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, Naikhongchhari union parishad chairman Nurul Absar said, the BGP members have been exchanging fire with the members of Arakan Army for the last few days. Failing to contain the Arakan fighters, they resorted to Bangladesh. Several border outposts of the BGP have been damaged in the fight. As a result, the BGP members found themselves isolated at one point.
Nurul Absar further said they have news from the other side of the border that it has become hard for the BGP members to survive amid the crisis of food and medical facilities in the face of the fierce attack of the Arakan Army.
Naikhongchhari upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Mohammad Zakaria said they haven’t heard any sound of firing in the areas near the border in the last one week. The locals said those 29 BGP members fled to Bangladesh after being chased by the Arakan Army.
Earlier, as many as 330 Myanmar citizens fled to Bangladesh through the Whykong border in Teknaf and the Ghumdhum border in Naikhongchhari upazila, including members of BGP and Myanmar Army and customs officials. Later, the BGB sent back all of them to Myanmar on 15 February.
The clash between the BGP of Myanmar and the Arakan Army started 2 February across the Naikhongchhari border. Following that, some 330 Myanmar citizens took shelter in Bangladesh, including 302 BGP members, four of their family members, two army personnel, 18 immigration officials and four civilians.