By RK Desk. Cox’s Bazar | November 7, 2026
Bangladeshi security forces recovered ammunition and identity documents during a renewed search for suspected trafficking hideouts in the Teknaf hills on Saturday. People freed in an earlier raid told Bangla Tribune they had been lured with promises of work or travel to Malaysia and then held under armed guard.
Teknaf police say renewed search found no bodies
Joint forces returned to the hills near Rohingya refugee camps in Teknaf’s Hnila union on the morning of November 7. Local media reported that officers recovered ammunition, spent casings, national identity cards and driving licences from suspected trafficking hideouts.
Teknaf Model Police Station officer-in-charge Saiful Islam told bdnews24.com that officers found no bodies and made no arrests during the search. Police had received an unconfirmed report on Friday afternoon that three bodies were in the hills.
People freed in November 5 raid describe job and travel offers
In interviews published by Bangla Tribune on November 7, one man said he had been promised construction work at a refugee camp and was taken instead to a hideout in the hills. Another said he was offered passage to Malaysia with payment due after arrival. He told the newspaper he was confined and beaten after reaching Cox’s Bazar. Other people interviewed described demands for money in exchange for their release.
Bangladesh’s Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate initially said 57 people were rescued in the November 5 raid, during which Bangladesh Army soldier Titas Sheikh was fatally shot. Teknaf police later told Bangla Tribune that officers had identified one of the 57 as a suspected trafficker and counted the remaining 56 as victims. Saiful Islam told Dhaka Tribune that six of the 56 were Rohingya refugees and 50 were Bangladeshi nationals.
Rohingya leaders hope November 19 judgment will strengthen calls for justice
Rohingya community leaders interviewed by The Daily Star for its November 5 report said they hoped the International Court of Justice would recognise the atrocities committed against their community as genocide. They said such a finding could strengthen demands for accountability and renew international attention to the conditions Rohingya refugees need for a safe return.
The court announced on November 3 that it would deliver its judgment in The Gambia v. Myanmar on November 19 at 10 a.m. in The Hague, or 3 p.m. in Bangladesh. The case concerns Myanmar’s obligations under the Genocide Convention. Citizenship and arrangements for safe return remain separate questions for Rohingya refugees.
