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Editorial

Rohingyas getting involved in crimes

They must be held back from integrating into the mainstream society


Bangladeshpost
Published : 28 Aug 2020 09:24 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 09:31 PM

We are deeply concerned to hear that criminal activities in and around the Rohingya camps are soaring. According to a media report, internal feud over illegal drug smuggling, especially Yaba, and other criminal activities has left more than 50 Rohingyas dead in the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar in the last two years.

In 2018, 208 criminal cases were filed against members of the Rohingya community. That figure rose to 263 last year. And in the first seven months of this year, 178 cases have already been filed against the Rohingyas. Certainly such a situation calls for serious actions to curb the rate of crimes in the Rohingya camps.

A recent report published in an English daily projects that Yaba smuggling has emerged as a major work in the camps giving rise to gangs who control and traffic the illegal drugs to different destinations across the country. Also the report gives us glimpses of extortion, human trafficking, prostitution, robbery and other common crimes that are committed in the camps.


Authorities concerned should do the needful 

to ensure that their stay here in this country is 

not permanent as Rohingya refugees are a 

ticking time-bomb that may explode any time.


Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar have turned into hotbeds of crime. Criminal gangs, active in the camps, often lock into bloody confrontations over control of markets, Yaba smuggling and human trafficking. Moreover, they have been engaged in serious confrontations with locals over supremacy of drug smuggling and often killed those who opposed them. 

It is a situation that is inevitable when thousands of desperate people are forced to stay in cramped, unhygienic conditions for months with no end to their sufferings in sight. 

Considering the prevailing situation in the refugee camps, authorities concerned should beef up security as much as possible and nab the perpetrators with a view to busting the gangs that are carrying out criminal activities. Immediate actions should be taken to establish law and order in the Rohingya camps and its surrounding areas.

Meanwhile, authorities concerned should do the needful to hold Rohingyas back from integrating into the mainstream society and ensure that their stay here in this country is not permanent as Rohingya refugees are a ticking time-bomb that may explode any time.