Sylhet has become the new 'transit route' for Rohingya trafficking. In exchange for money, the traffickers are trying to smuggle the Rohingyas out from different border camps in Sylhet to India. People in Sylhet think so after the recent arrest of some Rohingyas from different areas of Sylhet.
Information has been received from various sources that Rohingyas are spreading in different areas of Sylhet as they failed to enter India through the help of brokers or traffickers. police are looking for those brokers.
According to sources, 24 Rohingyas have been arrested from three places of Sylhet division this month by the law enforcement agencies. The number of Rohingyas detained this year is more than a hundred. Last Sunday (December 18), the police arrested 16 Rohingyas in Srimangal of Moulvibazar. They were detained from a bus of Ena Paribahan (Dhaka Metro 15-6703) coming from Chittagong to Moulvibazar. Police Inspector Kayshainu suspected some of the passengers in the bus to be Rohingyas. A team of Srimangal Thana Police stationed at Choumuhna of the city at 7 am on receiving information through Kayshainu searched the bus as soon as it arrived.
At that time, the team arrested 16 Rohingyas including men, women, and children. Apart from this, at 6 am on the same day, locals arrested a Rohingya from Nalapunji, the BGB's area, in Lathila, Goalbari Union, Juri Upazila, Moulvibazar District. Later he was handed over to Juri police station from BGB Lathitila camp.
After being detained, Rohingya youth Sharif Hossain (22) said that he is the son of Zahid Hossain of Kutupalong Camp No. 1 in Cox's Bazar. He escaped from that camp. Later he entered India through the Cumilla border and reached Agartala. He was caught at the check post on his way to Delhi from there. Later he was sent to the Tarekpur BSF camp in Tripura state. From there BSF pushed him back to Bangladesh through the Nalapunji area.
Earlier on December 14, eight Rohingyas were detained from the same area of Juri. The eight people were arrested by the locals and handed over to the BGB and the police. After interrogating them, the law-enforcement agencies found out that they were supposed to go to India using this border through brokers.
Besides, seven Rohingyas were detained from the Kumarshail border area of North Shahbazpur Union of Baralekha Upazila of Moulvibazar while they were going to India on August 25 this year. On June 11, police detained five Rohingyas, including a young woman, while she was trying to enter India illegally through the same border. On May 12, police arrested 18 Rohingyas, including women and children, from the bus stand on Srimangal-Moulvibazar road in Moulvibazar town. However, they were not on their way to India, on the contrary, they were arrested while entering Bangladesh through the border of Kulaura upazila from India. Their destination was the Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar.
Apart from this, hundreds of Rohingyas have been caught in the Sylhet region at different times in the last three years. Later they were sent to camps in Cox's Bazar. According to various sources, local human trafficking gangs are involved in these incidents of Rohingyas escaping using the Sylhet border. In exchange for money, brokers smuggle Rohingyas into India in various ways in the dark of night. Moreover, if the Rohingyas fleeing from Myanmar to India cannot stay in India come to Bangladesh using the Sylhet border through brokers.
