New Armed Police Unit for Rohingya Camps

A new armed police unit will be positioned in Cox's Bazar to guarantee the Rohingyas ' security and surveillance.

The home ministry has approved the unit's function, and the 16th Armed Police Battalion (APB) will begin service shortly. Earlier the 14th battalion was activated by the home ministry. Two battalions will work with the new one.

Following the army crackdown in Rakhine on Aug 25, 2017, around 700,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh and with the earlier 500,000, a total of 1.15 million people are now living in camps in Teknaf and Ukhia. The government allotted around 10,000 acres of forest land to accommodate the Rohingyas and has been providing food, medicine, education and humanitarian aid for them.

Since the Rohingyas have been living in the camps for more than two and a half years, they are engaged in a variety of crimes including murder, rape, human trafficking, drug smuggling, etc. To curb the crimes, the 14th armed battalion was given approval in 2018 and under it, a total of 950 persons are working.

Cox's Bazar police SP ABM Masud Hossain said: "Approval has been granted for a new unit while the home ministry team is working to provide legal support to control crime by rapid response teams and special control rooms."

According to the home ministry, the security at the camps has been scaled back due to fears that the Rohingyas might leave the camps and mix with the locals, get engaged in crime or become victims of trafficking.