288 members of Myanmar’s army and border guards were put on tugboats amid tight security on Thursday morning.
288 members of Myanmar’s army and border guards who fled fighting with armed insurgents and took refuge in Bangladesh have been repatriated.
At 7 am on Thursday morning, they were taken to a tugboat from Nuniachhara BIWLTA JT Ghat in Cox’s Bazar town through tight security. Additional District Executive Magistrate of Cox’s Bazar said that after taking them to the deep sea, they will be handed over to Chin Duin, the Myanmar Navy ship waiting there. Yamin Hossain said.
The Myanmar ship reached the waters of Bangladesh on Wednesday to take back the soldiers and border guards who took refuge in Bangladesh. 173 Bangladeshis, who were variously stranded in Myanmar or sentenced to jail, returned on that ship.
A delegation of 5 members of the country also reached Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday afternoon by the ship of the Myanmar Navy. Later they went to BGB Government Primary School in Naikshyongchari 11 Battalion, Bandarban. After reaching there, they completed other formalities including verification of Myanmar’s BGP and army personnel.
BGB and administration officials said that at 4:30 am on Thursday, 11 buses brought Myanmar’s BGP and army personnel to BIWTA JT Ghat in Cox’s Bazar.
After being brought there, the immigration and documentation formalities are completed and the extradition process begins. Senior officials of the Home Ministry, BGB, District Administration, Police Administration, District Health Department and Coast Guard handed them over to the country’s delegation including the Myanmar Ambassador to Bangladesh.
Then at 7am the members of the Myanmar Armed Forces were handed over to the Karnphuli tugboat. A Coast Guard trawler escorted the tugboat into the deep sea.
For a long time, there has been a conflict between the army and the rebel groups in Myanmar, which has also affected the border areas of Bangladesh. Mortar shells and bullets from across the border also caused casualties.
The government sent back 330 people, including border guards and members of the armed forces, who fled the conflict in the first round on February 16.
Among them were 302 Myanmar Border Guard Police-BGP, four family members, two army personnel, 18 immigration personnel and four civilians.
After that, 288 border guards and army personnel came and took refuge in Bangladesh in several rounds along the border of Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar. Now they were sent back.
