58 Rohingyas, 2 traffickers held in Bay

Bangladesh Coast Guard detained 58 Rohingyas, including children and women, and two alleged traffickers during a drive off the coast of St Martin’s Island in Cox’s Bazar yesterday evening.

Lt Josel Rana, Coast Guard’s station commander in the island, said being tipped off, they conducted a drive and detained the Rohingyas from a trawler around 6:30pm.

Of the detainees, 28 are females and 10 children, all aged below 10, he told The Daily Star over the phone.

Rana said the Rohingyas were tricked onto the trawler and was being trafficked to Malaysia.

He alleged that Rubel, 23, of Teknaf upazila and Omar Faruk, 23, a Rohingya of Kutupalong camp, were two of the traffickers.

The Coast Guard official said they would hand the detainees over to Teknaf police in this morning.

Some 300 Rohingyas, mostly women, have been rescued off Cox’s Bazar coast in the last one month while being trafficked to Malaysia.

Our Cox’s Bazar correspondent contributed to this report.