DHAKA – At least 134 members of Myanmar junta’s security forces and their families who fled fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) in northern Rakhine State were handed back from Bangladesh on Sunday.
Myanmar’s naval vessel UMS Chin Dwin ferried 45 Bangladeshis from different jails in Myanmar to Bangladesh via the Rakhine State capital, Sittwe, and carried back its personnel.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry said more than 752 personnel and their families had been handed over since mid-February after the AA launched sweeping offensives against Myanmar’s regime near the Bangladeshi border in Rakhine State.
Bangladeshi officials told The Irrawaddy that Myanmar’s junta promised that none of them would face any intimidation or legal charges.
Miah Md Mainul Kabir, the foreign ministry’s chief representative for Myanmar, led the repatriation process, despite the lack of a bilateral extradition treaty.
On April 25, 288 border police and soldiers were repatriated to Myanmar after crossing into Bangladesh after March 11.
In February, an estimated 330 Border Guard Police, soldiers and immigration officials took shelter in Bangladesh and were repatriated on February 15.
Bangladeshi ambassador to Myanmar Monwar Hossain tweeted that most of the 45 Bangladeshi prisoners were victims of human trafficking after being lured by supposedly lucrative job offers in Malaysia. He said 247 Bangladeshi had now been repatriated.
The Arakan Army has seized numerous border guard positions in Maungdaw Township on the Bangladeshi border.
Fighting continued near Thandwe airport in southern Rakhine State on Friday as the AA continued its offensive to seize the town next to Myanmar’s most popular beach, Ngapali.
In May, Rohingya activists accused the AA of displacing thousands of Muslims in western Rakhine State.
Bangkok-based Fortify Rights alleged in April that the Bangladeshi authorities beat and forcibly returned Rohingyas fleeing atrocities in Myanmar.
It reported six incidents since February in which the Bangladeshi border forces beat Rohingya refugees trying to cross the frontier and sent them back into Myanmar. More than 300 Rohingyas were pushed back, the rights group said. The allegations were denied by the Bangladeshi authorities.
