19 Rohingyas fleeing from Bhashan Char arrested in Chattogram

Police have arrested 19 Rohingyas at coast of Fauzdarhat in Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram after they fled from Noakhali’s Bhashan Char refugee camp, reports UNB.

Locals detained 21 Rohingyas after they arrived at the Fauzdarhat coast of Ward No. 1 of Salimpur Union in a boat at around 11:00 am on Wednesday.

Later, they handed over 19 of them to the police as two youths managed to escape.

Among the arrestees were eight children, four women and seven men.

Mostakim Arju, a local union parishad member, said, "When I heard that 21 children, women and men had come to the shores of Faujdarhat, I rushed to the spot, held them and informed the chairman."

Although there were 21 people in the boat, two youths escaped, he said.

One of the arrestees, Abdul Habib, said that the group of 21 people on Sunday started from Bhashan Char on a rented boat for Tk 13,000 per person. They arrived ashore in Fauzdarhat after a four-day long journey in the sea

The boatman quickly left with the boat as soon as the passengers got off, he added.

Habib further said, “We are having a hard time in Bhashan Char so we wanted to go to our previous place in Cox’s Bazar.”

ASI Zahirul Islam of Fauzdarhat police outpost said that on receiving information from local union parishad chairman Salauddin Aziz, we arrested 19 Rohingyas from the coast of Fauzdarhat and brought them to the outpost.

They would soon be handed over to the local police station, he said.