Bangladeshi Highway Police detained two ARSA activists from the Nayapara area of Teknaf on April 27 and recovered 17 bullets in their possession. The youngsters had crossed to get arms training from the Myanmar junta.
Kefayet Ullah (19) from Kutupalong refugee camp block-E-314 in Cox’s Bazar district and Anwar Mostafa (18) from Bhasan Char refugee camp in Noakhali district are the two Rohingya youngsters who were arrested.
They ran away from the junta soldiers in Myanmar’s military training program. A large number of youths, mostly ARSA members have enlisted for military training.
At approximately 11 a.m. on Saturday, they were taken into custody together with 17 bullets from the Nayapara region along the Cox’s Bazar–Teknaf route, according to highway police officer-in-charge Qayyum Uddin Chowdhury.
ARSA agents acted as middlemen to send the two young Rohingya men to the Buthidaung military camp in Maungdaw district on April 19. They received rifle shooting training in order to fight the Arakan Army. But after a week, they decided to leave because of the intense heat and lack of food in the camp.
Both of them were turned over to the Teknaf police station, and a lawsuit has been filed in accordance with the applicable laws.
They admitted during questioning that the ammunition was transported from Myanmar to the Kutupalong camp for the insurgent group ARSA.
In recent weeks, ARSA and elements of the now disbanded Arakan Rohingya Army have organised hundreds of youths to Myanmar for military training to fight alongside the Junta forces against the Arkan Army.
Ironically in 2017, ARSA attacks on Junta outposts were cited as the reason for the clearance operation that resulted in the deaths of 25,000 Rohingyas including women and children, resulting in exodus of almost a million Rohingyas east of Mayu river to South Western Bangladesh.
However, ARSA and the Junta have now teamed up against the Arakan Army.
ARSA once controlled the refugee camps in Bangladesh where they unleashed a reign of terror with rapes, kidnappings, and killings, mostly of Rohingya civilians. Many locals were also kidnapped and killed by ARSA during the time. ARSA remained steadfast in their claim that their actions were necessary for their fight against the Junta that had unleashed genocide against the Rohingyas.
Following a steady string of defeats at the hands of the AA, the Junta had called upon Rohingyas to unite against the Rakhine dominated insurgent group with whom Rohingyas have a tense history. Since then ARSA activists have been openly in league with the Junta forces.
The open alliance between the Junta and ARSA is once again lending fuel to old speculations that the two supposed enemies have always acted together behind the scenes to remove the Rohingya population from their homelands to the squalid refugee camps of Bangladesh.
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