Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Bangladesh Border Guard forces detained three Rohingya fishermen on September 19 while they were working in the Naf River, before releasing them the following day after confiscating their fishing equipment.
Local sources told Arakan News Agency that the men were arrested while casting their nets on the Myanmar side of the river. They were freed on the morning of September 20, but their fishing gear was seized, leaving the family without a livelihood.
Residents said fishermen now require permission from the Arakanese Buddhist militia (Arakan Army), which controls large parts of northern Arakan State, before going out to fish.
Observers believe the arrest was part of a new crackdown by Bangladeshi authorities on cross-border smuggling in the Naf River area, which has seen rising tensions and intensified patrols.
The Naf River forms the natural border between Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district and Myanmar’s Arakan State, where fishermen on both sides face growing risks of detention.
In August, Bangladesh Coast Guard forces arrested 122 fishermen and sailors, including 93 Rohingya, during raids in Teknaf municipality of Cox’s Bazar, accusing them of crossing the Naf River and fishing inside Myanmar waters.
The Arakanese Buddhist militia currently controls much of Arakan State, following a military campaign it launched in November 2023 against the Myanmar junta. It has since seized vast territories, with Rohingya civilians caught in the crossfire, suffering violence, forced displacement, persecution, and recruitment by both sides after already enduring what has been described as a “genocide” by the Myanmar military since 2017 that forced nearly one million Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.