October 2, 2016
Locals say the murder of a Rohingya man near Baas Sara in Maungdaw South was the work of the notorious Abdul Hamid gang.
Hossain Ahmed, 31, a religion teacher was brutally killed and his body burned. His mutilated corpse was recovered by locals and Hlun Htein forces on Saturday at around 2pm after the kidnappers had informed his family they could collect the hostage from the particular spot in the forest.
Altogether five people were kidnapped by the gang on September 26 from the village. Four of the hostages were released after the payment of 3million kyats from two, and 2.5 million kyats from the two others. Local sources say it is likely the family of the deceased could not raise sufficient transom and was killed as a warning to others. It is feared the gang will continue to prey on villagers.
Our sources confirm the leadership of the gang is based in the Teknaf region of Bangladesh. They prey on both ordinary villagers and government collaborators, and don’t have backing of state forces. However, there are allegations that security forces have detained innocent villagers in the past for having links to the gang.
The gang is however close to some Bangladeshi politicians operating in the frontier region.
Earlier allegations that the kidnapping was the work of Arakan Army insurgents have been refuted by our correspondent and other local sources.
