A Dhaka court has sent a Bangladeshi citizen from Rakhine community to jail on charges of pilfering state information to Myanmar and conspiring to conduct subversive activities in Bangladesh with the help of Myanmar-based militant group Arakan Liberation Party (ALP).

A case was filed on October 20 under the Anti-Terrorism Act against the accused -- Ushit Maung Rakhine, 67. 

According to the case statement, Ushit was arrested on October 18 at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka by the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) before departing for Myanmar.   

Ushit, resident of Mirpur in the capital, and his wife Sumraraja Lin Prokash Mama, 58, who is a Myanmar citizen and still living in Myanmar, have been sharing sensitive information of Bangladesh with ALP and high officials in Myanmar, aiming to disrupt stability and security in Bangladesh, claimed investigators.

Ushit, a financier of the ALP; and Sumraraja, an armed member of the outfit; have been conspiring to mobilise the Rikhaines in Bangladesh for the amalgamation of greater Chittagong with Rakhine State in Myanmar, the investigators said after primary investigation.  

A Bangladesh passport with Myanmar visa, some Myanmar currency, a laptop computer, documents and videos containing ALP propaganda, and photos of Ushit and his wife, in arms, with Myanmar army officials were seized by Rab during his arrest, said the case statement. 

The court placed him on a three-day police remand that ended on October 29.   

Nure Azam Miah, officer-in-charge of Airport Police Station, said they were scrutinizing the information gleaned from Ushit. “We are also verifying the photos in which his wife is carrying arms.”

However, Ushit's sister Aye Thein Rakhine, a former lawmaker of Awami League, rebutted the allegations against her brother, terming the charges false and baseless.

Aye Thein said her brother runs an NGO named Rakhine Development Foundation that works for all ethnic and religious communities in the country. Also, he used to work as an advisor for a Myanmar-based NGO named Raingo Foundation.

Ushit's wife Sumraraja works for the peace committee formed by the Myanmar government, she also said, claiming that the photos of Sumraraja carrying arms were taken during student demonstrations in Myanmar in the 80s.