Police in a drive arrested suspected five members of a human trafficking gang and 19 Myanmar nationals from a house in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar district on Friday night for intrusion into the country. The five human traffickers were Zahid, 30, son of Selim, Jamal, 38, son of Hashem, Hazera, 50, wife of Amin Sharif, Yunus, 24, son of Ali zohr and Dwin Islam, son of Mohammad Shah. Among the Myanmar nationals, six were women, six men and seven children. Also read: Rohingya man shot dead in Cox’s Bazar Balukhali camp Tipped off, a team of police conducted a drive at the house of one Amin Sharif around 11:10 pm and arrested them , said Abdul Halim, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station. All of them entered the Bangladesh territory illegally through Teknaf border.    

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) detained four Myanmar nationals and seized 10,000 Yaba pills, 1.06 kgs of Crystal meth, 35 bottles of foreign liquor and 430 cans of beer from them at Jaliardwip in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar district. The BGB conducted the drive on Monday night. Also Read: ‘Drug peddler’s’ throat-slit body found in Chuadanga The detainees were identified as Waz Karim, 22, son of Shafiur Rahman, Mahbubur Rahman, 19, son of Amir Hakim, Md Foysal, 20, son of Anis Ahmed and Jashim uddin, son of Hossain Ahmed of Myanmar. Among them, Foysal and Jashim were the residents of Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar and Balukhali camp. Also Read: Huge haul of drugs busted at Chapainawabganj border: BGB Tipped off, a team of BGB-2 conducted a drive in the area and challenged a boat while crossing the zero line of the bordering area around 10:20 pm, said Commanding officer of BGB-2, Lieutenant Colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed. Also Read: Myanmar national among 3 held with Crystal meth, Yaba pills in Teknaf Later, they managed to detain four people and seized the drugs including beer and liquor from inside the boat. A process is on to hand them over to Teknaf Police Station.    

Members of the Coast Guard (CG) and Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) in a joint drive detained six Myanmar nationals and recovered 1.70 lakh pieces of Yaba pills from the Bay of Bengal adjacent to the Saint Martin Island on Tuesday. The detainees - Kefayet Ullah, 22, Md Sharif, 27, Md Hossain, 38, Rahman, 43, Nur Hossain, 21, another Md Hossain, 27 - are residents of different areas in Akyab district of Myanmar.   The news of Yaba recovery was disclosed at a press conference held at the Station Office of Bangladesh Coast Guard Teknaf BCG on Tuesday afternoon. On information a team of the CG and DNC led by Lieutenant Commander of the CG in BCG Teknaf Station Ashiq Ahmed and DNC Assistant Director Md Sirajul Mostafa conducted the drive in the Bay around 3am. Read: Over 4kgs crystal meth, 1.5 lakh Yaba pills seized in Cox’s Bazar The team signaled an engine-run boat heading towards Cox’s Bazar from Myanmar to halt following their suspicious movement. Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the drug peddlers turned back towards Myanmar but they were detained with the Yaba pills after a chase. A process is underway to file a case against the detainees in this connection.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday reiterated her call to the international community to do much more to ensure safe, sustainable and dignified return of over one million forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Bangladesh. “Bangladesh has been hosting 1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals. This humanitarian crisis poses a serious security threat,” the prime minister said in her recorded speech at the 78th Session of the UNESCAP. Also read: Rohingyas must not be forgotten while focusing on Ukraine: Grandi “We expect enhanced focus and active support of the international community for safe, sustainable and dignified return of these displaced people,” she told the session meeting under the theme ‘A common agenda to advance sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific’. She said that when the world is struggling to recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict came as a huge blow to the global economic and social stability. “The poor and developing countries are experiencing the brunt of the war. The war must be stopped immediately and joint actions are needed to tackle the situation,” she said. She mentioned the pandemic battered the health systems and economies of most of the countries across the world where the poor and developing countries were the worst sufferers. “In Bangladesh, while tackling the pandemic, we have tried to strike a balance between lives and livelihoods. Our timely and prudent interventions greatly helped manage the macroeconomic stability,” she said. While many countries in South Asia experienced negative or nominal GDP growth, she said, we maintained a commendable growth during the pandemic. She mentioned that Bangladesh is expecting over 7 per cent GDP growth in 2021-22. “We have already brought almost all targeted population under vaccination,” she said.

Authorities in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur have apprehended as many as 14 Myanmar nationals for allegedly entering the country using fake identity cards. India shares a long land border of more than 1,600 km with Myanmar as well as a maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal. Four northeastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram -- share an international boundary with Myanmar. "The 14 Myanmar nationals were detained by security personnel deployed at Bir Tikendrajit International Airport in Manipur's capital Imphal as they were attempting to board a flight to Delhi, using fake Indian identity cards on Friday," an official told the local media on Saturday. "All of them were subsequently handed over to the local police, who formally arrested them. The 14 foreign nationals were produced in a court that remanded 11 of them in police  custody for interrogation," the official added. Read: India tightens border security after 20 from Myanmar cross over Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh tweeted to say that his government will take stern action against anyone entering India illegally, in an apparent reference to those trying to escape the turmoil in Myanmar in the wake of the military coup earlier this year. "The state govt. takes this matter very seriously. Stringent actions will be taken up against those people who enter the country without proper documents," Singh tweeted. In February, India expressed “deep concern” at the military coup. “India has always been steadfast in its support to the process of democratic transition in Myanmar. We believe that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld,” the Foreign Ministry had said.

 Bangladesh has urged all to exercise utmost caution not to undermine or misinterpret the genuine efforts of the government of Bangladesh noting that the voluntary relocation of Rohingyas to Bhasan Char has become imperative to decongest the overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar. 

The country is not going to have any good news regarding the solution to the Rohingya crisis or repatriation of over 11 lakh Myanmar nationals living in Bangladesh which is a huge burden for the country both economically and environmentally, says the foreign minister.