Burma’s Border Guard Police (BGP) arrested three Rohingya villagers in Maungdaw North, Arakan State and accused them of having Bangladeshi mobile phones and selling Bangladeshi SIM cards before extorting money from them said an ex-school teacher who wished to remain anonymous
He said: “The arrested villagers were identified as: Moulvi Rasshid Dullah (33) son of Mohamed Ismail and his brother Mofez Sell (22); and Ismail (35), son of Mohamed Akbar. They are all from Maung Nama Village Tract in Maungdaw Township.”
A group of BGP guards from BGP Headquarters went to the village on 12 August at about 8:00 pm. They arrested the three men and accused them of using Bangladeshi mobile phones and selling Bangladeshi SIM cards.
Younous, a relative of the accused said they were not using Bangladeshi mobile phones and that deliberately false accusations were made because the accused were members of the Rohingya community.
The three arrested men were released after paying 200,000 kyats each to the BGP, Younous said
Annu Meah, an elder from Maung Nama Village said that the arrested men are from well to do families so the BGP guards knew that they could get money from them if they arrested them and falsely accused them of criminal activities. The BGP are very experienced in how to extort money from Rohingya villagers, he added.
Edited in English for BNI by Mark Inkey
