Firearms ‘factory’ busted in Ukhiya

Rapid Action Battalion claimed to have busted an arms-making factory in a hilly area of Cox's Bazar's Ukhiya upazila early yesterday and arrested three Rohingyas supplying firearms to the Rohingya criminals.

Ten local firearms and a huge quantity of arms-making equipment were seized during a drive in the area adjacent to extension-4 of Kutupalong Rohingya camp, said Lt Col Khairul Islam, commanding officer of Rab-15.

Of the arrestees, Baitullah, 19, and his brother Habibullah, 32, are residents of Block-C of Kutupalong Rohingya camp while Mohammad Hachhun, 24, is a resident of Block-G, he said.

"We had intelligence that a gang runs an arms-making factory in the area and supplies firearms to the Rohingya criminals," said the Rab official.

Based on the information, a team of Rab-15 raided the area. Sensing its presence, the criminals opened fire, forcing the Rab members to retaliate, the official claimed.

After a four-hour "gunfight", the Rab team managed to take over the factory, the Rab official said, adding that they then arrested the three from the spot while the others managed to flee.

The official said they were interrogating the arrestees and looking for other criminals and arms factories inside Rohingya camps or in the area.

Meanwhile, in reply to a query at a press briefing at Rab media centre in the capital, Commander Khandaker Al Moin, legal and media wing director of the force, said they would continue the drive to curb crimes in the Rohingya camps.

On October 22, six people were killed and over a dozen injured in a gun attack in Ukhiya's Balukhali camp.

The attack took place 23 days after Muhibullah, former chairman of Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, also an avowed supporter of the repatriation of the Rohingyas to Myanmar, was assassinated at his office in Ukhiya's Kutupalong camp.

Following the incident, Bangladesh expressed concern over the increased crimes and unrest in the Rohingya camps as tensions between criminal groups are active across 34 refugee camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf.

According to officials of different law enforcement agencies, at least 10 Rohingya groups are involved in at least 12 types of crimes, including killing, abduction, rape, drug trafficking and robbery.

Since August 2017, at least 226 Rohingyas have been killed and some 1,298 cases filed accusing 2,850 individuals, mostly in connection with possession of drugs and firearms.