Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Local sources in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh reported that a young Rohingya man named Mohammed Jaber, aged 28, was abducted in an incident that took place in Shalbagan Camp, Teknaf area.
They told Arakan News Agency that the victim’s family later received disturbing video clips showing him being severely beaten at gunpoint.
According to the sources, Jaber works as a blood donation manager and coordinator in his community and hails from Kyet Yoe Pyin Village in northern Maungdaw, Rakhine State, western Myanmar.
His family confirmed that he went missing on Thursday, and despite extensive search efforts, he has not yet been found. The family said they received photos and videos early Friday from an unknown number, showing Jaber in the hands of his kidnappers, who demanded a large sum of money for his release.
One of his uncles said: “We are poor refugees and have no money to pay the ransom. We can only hope and pray that he returns home safely.”
Camp residents expressed growing concern over the rise in kidnapping incidents within the Rohingya camps, saying such crimes have caused fear and anxiety among the community. They urged local authorities and security forces to take immediate action to rescue him and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Kidnapping cases have surged recently in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. Among them was the abduction of a young Rohingya girl whose kidnappers demanded a large ransom from her family. In another tragic case last June, the body of a Rohingya boy was found murdered a day after his abduction when his family failed to pay the ransom.
Other similar incidents include the torture of a young Rohingya man by unidentified abductors, and the kidnapping of Mohammed Arakan, a Rohingya child whose body was buried in the sand by his captors, who then sent photos of it to his family demanding ransom. Another survivor, Abu Yusuf, recounted his own ordeal after being kidnapped and tortured by unknown men in the camps before being released when his family paid the ransom.
More than one million Rohingya refugees currently live in the Cox’s Bazar area after fleeing violence and persecution in Myanmar since the 2017 “genocidal campaign” carried out by the Myanmar military. The United Nations describes Cox’s Bazar as the largest refugee camp in the world.
