Myanmar Army Man ‘Rescued’ in Bangladesh
By Muktadir Rashid 25 January 2019
DHAKA—Members of Bangladesh’s Border Guard Force “rescued” a private of the Myanmar Army in the Banhatirchhara area of Naikkhongchhari sub-district in Bangladeshi hill district Bandarban on Thursday morning after acting on information from the Myanmar side of the border, officials said on Friday.
The 28-year-old man is identified as army constable Aung Bo Bo Thein, a member of Myanmar’s No. 5 Border Guard Police Branch. He was found unarmed, 3.5 kilometers from the international border after reportedly having crossed into Bangladesh at around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
He is originally from a Yangon garrison of the Myanmar Army.
“We were informed by our counterparts in the BGP that one of their soldiers was lost while on duty. We rescued him,” said Bangladesh Border Guard’s Ramu region commander Brig-Gen Ainul Morshed Khan Pathan.
He said they are following international laws as prescribed in the Geneva Convention in order to get him back to his home country.
The Bangladesh border guard officials said the soldier was “drunk” and roaming “aimlessly” when the team at the Bhallokkhia border outpost found him in uniform.
A local Bangla-language daily Nayadiganta quoted Bangladesh border guard officials saying that in primary interrogations of the soldier, he expressed that he was unhappy with his army job in Myanmar.
When asked when he would be returned to Myanmar, the Ramu border guard force chief said they would send him back “as soon as possible,” in compliance with their commitment to good relations with their Myanmar border guard counterparts.
