BGB sends back 13 boats carrying Rohingyas

The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has sent back 13 boats carrying Rohingyas, who fled Myanmar amid military operations in Rakhine state.

The BGB members stopped the 13 boats in the Naf river between 8:00pm on Sunday and 6:00am on Sunday while they were trying to enter Bangladesh through Teknaf’s Damdamia and Alikhali borders, said the BGB sources.

The sources added that there were at least 20 people, including women and children, on each boat.

The boats were forced to return Myanmar as BGB barred them on the border points, said BGB Teknaf-2 commander lieutenant colonel Abujar Al Zahid.

BGB Teknaf-2 sources said 272 boats carrying nearly 3,000 Rohingyas were sent back between 1 November and 11 December.

Teknaf Model police station officer-in-charge Md Abdul Mazid told Prothom Alo that police have sent 19 human traffickers to jail during this period.

Source: Prothom Alo