Bangladesh rescues 20 Rohingya Muslims held by refugee racket gang

A Rohingya Muslim man from Myanmar carries an elderly woman after they crossed the border into Bangladesh from Myanmar, in Teknaf, Bangladesh, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. More than a month after Myanmar’s refugees began spilling across the border, the U.N. says more than half a million have arrived. AP FILE PHOTO

Bangladesh police have rescued 20 Rohingya Muslims after busting a gang, which ferried the refugees from Myanmar but demanded thousands of dollars for the boat ride, an official said on Tuesday.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) chief Major Ruhul Amin said they raided a village near the border with Myanmar late on Monday to free the Rohingya Muslims, who had been held there for a day.

Amin, who led the operation at Sabrung near Cox’s Bazar, told AFP that the 20 Rohingya Muslims included seven women, five men and eight children.

“They were held there by a gang of boat owners and crew who demanded 20,000 taka ($250) per person for a two-hour boat ride from Myanmar,” he said.

A boat ride between Maungdaw and Bangladesh’s main landing station at Shah Porir Dwip would normally cost not more than five dollars.

Amin said they arrested three members of the gang for profiteering.

The United Nation estimated that 507,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine into Bangladesh since late August after the latest eruption of violence in the northern Myanmar state.

Many have arrived on rickety boats crossing the Naf River, which marks the border between Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district and Rakhine.

Police said boat owners and crew, as well as fishermen have charged exorbitant prices for the rides.

Amin said that “it has become a common phenomenon” since the influx began.

Authorities have deployed mobile courts to crack down on the profiteering gangs and handed down sentences of up to six months jail time on nearly 200 people.

“We have arrested 20 brokers and freed nearly 2,000 people in raids in the coastal villages. In one raid, we rescued about 1,000 Rohingya who were held at six houses,” Amin said.

Rohingya Muslims, who fled to Bangladesh, said the boatmen extracted every last penny from them for the ferry and threatened to throw them overboard if they refused to surrender valuables including gold ornaments.

Media reports have mentioned Rohingya Muslims being held by boatmen and agents for hours in coastal villages until they made inflated payments for the trip.

Rohingya Muslims living in established refugee camps in Bangladesh have also been accused of joining the profiteering.