Arakan News Agency
Two Rohingya men living in the Unchiprang Refugee Camp (Camp 22), originally from Buthidaung town in Arakan State, were abducted and severely tortured by a local criminal gang on Saturday while searching for daily-wage work in Cox’s Bazar.
Local sources said the two men left Unchiprang camp early in the morning and travelled to the central bus terminal in Cox’s Bazar. While transferring between buses, they were suddenly attacked by members of a local gang, who forcibly abducted them and took them to an unknown location.
According to the sources, the victims were brutally tortured during their captivity. The attackers reportedly stabbed their mouths, hands and heads with knives, causing serious injuries. During the ordeal, the abductors repeatedly contacted the families, demanding ransom in exchange for their release.
After hours of fear and pressure, the families managed to collect and pay 120,000 Bangladeshi taka, after which the two men were released.
The incident has raised renewed fears over the safety of Rohingya refugees who are forced to leave the camps in search of daily work due to worsening economic conditions.
Rohingya community leaders warned that criminal gangs continue to target vulnerable refugees in Cox’s Bazar, amid weak protection and limited security in and around the camps.
Kidnapping incidents inside Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar have increased in recent months. These include the abduction of a young man named Mohammed Jaber from Shalbagon camp in Teknaf, whose family received disturbing videos of him being tortured along with ransom demands.
A Rohingya girl was also abducted from the camps, with kidnappers demanding a large sum of money from her family. In June, the body of a Rohingya child was found one day after being kidnapped, after the family failed to pay the demanded ransom.
Other cases include the torture of a Rohingya youth following his abduction by unknown attackers, and the kidnapping of a child named Mohammad Arakan, whose kidnappers buried him in sand and sent photos to his family while demanding ransom.
A Rohingya youth identified as Abu Yusuf also previously narrated how he was abducted and tortured in the camps before being released after his family paid ransom.
Bangladesh hosts more than one million Rohingya refugees in the camps of the Cox’s Bazar region, the largest refugee settlement in the world. Refugees live under severe humanitarian conditions, with strict restrictions on movement and employment, forcing many to leave the camps to seek daily labour to secure basic survival.
