A Rohingya fisherman was shot dead by Burmese Border Guard Police (BGP) while he was fishing on the Naff River at about 9.30pm on 10 January, said Korim, another fisherman.
He said the dead man was Mohammed Roffique (19), son of Sayed Alam, from Shweza village in Maungdaw Township.
A fisherman, on condition of anonymity, said that some of the people fishing on the Naff River had received permission to do so from the BGP, but others had not.
Hamid, a local elder, said the other fishermen who were with Rafique told him that they left Shweza Village on the night of 10 January and went to catch fish on the Naff River. A BGP patrol boat from the BGP's Shweza camp saw the fishing boat and hailed the crew to tell them to stop fishing, but the fishermen were already trying to escape from the BGP, so they fired on the fishing boat.
Rafique was killed on the spot and the other fishermen only managed to escape by jumping overboard.
Nahid, a local villager, said that on the morning of 11 January villagers saw a body floating in the Naff River. They told the BGP officers at the Shweza BGP camp who then went and recovered the body and sent it to Maungdaw General Hospital for an autopsy.
After the autopsy the body was returned to Rafique's relatives who buried him in the village cemetery on the evening of 11 January.
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
