Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Two Rohingya refugees were kidnapped and beaten in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar by unknown individuals pretending to be policemen on Saturday.
A reporter of the Arakan News Agency reported that Mohammed and Abdullah were on their way to work outside the camp when they were kidnapped near the Cox’s Bazar Link Road.
A group of unknown individuals, traveling in a CNC car, stopped them and claimed to be government officials. They questioned the two men about having CIC permission. When the men said they didn’t have it, the kidnappers said they had to take them to their office.
Shortly after that, the kidnappers demanded 4 lakh Taka ($ 3294) for their release. Their families were only able to pay 2 lakh Taka ($ 1647), after which the two men were released. Both refugees were beaten severely in captivity and are now receiving treatment at the MSF hospital.
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are subjected to almost daily kidnappings by criminal gangs demanding ransom. These kidnappings sometimes end with residents finding the body of the kidnapped person murdered after his impoverished family failed to raise the large ransom.
Lately, a Rohingya girl was kidnapped in the camps, and a large ransom was demanded from her family. Last June, the body of a Rohingya child was found murdered one day after his abduction after his family was unable to pay the ransom. Authorities in Bangladesh arrested a key suspect in a major network that runs kidnapping operations in Cox’s Bazar.
More than one million Rohingya refugees live in the Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh, fleeing violence and persecution in Myanmar since the genocidal campaign launched by the Myanmar military against them in 2017. The United Nations describes Cox’s Bazar as the largest refugee camp in the world.
