22 Rohingya’s attempt to get to Malaysia by boat stopped

COX’S BAZAR: Bangladesh security forces stopped 22 Rohingya Muslims from being smuggled to Malaysia by boat, officials said yesterday, the second group in three days prevented from leaving squalid refugee camps.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) forces found 11 women, 10 children and a man at a village on the Bay of Bengal coast, near the border with Myanmar, on Sunday.

The 22 had paid traffickers up to US$1,200 (RM4,800) each to get a place on a small boat for the dangerous journey, a BGB officer said. The people smugglers fled before security forces arrived.

About 740,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since 2017. There were already 300,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh.

It is the fourth time since November that Rohingya have been intercepted attempting to get a boat to Malaysia.