20 Rohingyas found in Manikganj

Twenty Rohingya refugees, who entered Bangladesh to escape persecution in Myanmar, were found in Manikganj, around 450 kilometres from Cox's Bazar camps.

Meanwhile, eight Rohingyas were detained from Benapole.

The rescued people were lost after crossing the border and took refuge in Manikganj as they travelled through Bangladesh looking for shelter, our correspondent reports quoting Police Superintendent Mahfuzur Rahman.

The Rohingyas are 20 members of three families, said the SP.

On information, the 20 were rescued from different areas in Singair upazila of the district on Wednesday afternoon.

They were first taken to the SP's office and later taken to Singair Pilot High School where they were kept under police custody.

They will be sent back to Cox's Bazar today, said the police official.

The rescued Rohingyas are residents of Mondukaderbil village of Rakhine state of Myanmar.

Up to 400,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since August 25, with thousands more arriving every day, Unicef said yesterday.

They have arrived in Bangladesh in the face of what Bangladesh government and many others internationally called “genocide” by Myanmar's military forces in the Rakhine state.

On the other hand, members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) arrested eight Rohingyas from border village Kholsi under Benapole Port Police Station yesterday, reports our correspondent.

The arrestees are Yasmin Nahar, 20, Jahid Hossain, 33, and their sons Arman Hossain, 9, and Imran Hossain, 7, Azizul Haque, 30, Hafsa Begum, 22, wife of Azizul Haque, and their sons Iqbal Hossain, 8, and Hafizur Rahman, 4.

Lt Col Tariqul Alam, commanding officer of BGB-21 Battalion, said they arrested the eight from the bordering village while they were going to Teknaf from India. 

Apurbo Hasan, officer-in-charge of the PS, said the arrestees were later produced before a Jessore court that sent them to jail.