Landmine Blasts and Drug Trafficking Persist Along Bangladesh-Myanmar Border

The long running conflict in Rakhine, also called Arakan, in Myanmar is now clearly affecting the Bangladesh Myanmar border areas. Gunfire, explosions, landmine blasts and the activity of several armed groups across the border are raising worry among people in the border areas of Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban. Claims of drug smuggling add to this, and fresh fear has grown over the overall border situation.

The latest blast happened a few days ago inside Myanmar’s Rakhine State, across the Palongkhali border in Ukhiya. A Rohingya youth named Md. Hamid Hossain was badly hurt in a landmine explosion. According to BGB, the blast took place around 3:30 in the afternoon, about 250 yards west of the zero line of the Bangladesh border, inside Myanmar. Hamid lives in Block C 27 of the Kutupalong registered Rohingya camp. He later entered Bangladesh, and BGB and locals took him to the MSF hospital in Kutupalong.

This is not the first mine blast on the border. Earlier this year, a landmine blast inside Myanmar across the Ukhiya border reportedly cut off the leg of a Rohingya youth named Sadek. Before that, a Bangladeshi youth was also badly hurt in a mine blast on the Teknaf border. Some months ago, three Bangladeshis died in a landmine blast on the Ghumdhum border in Naikhongchhari, Bandarban. Different sources say they were hit while moving through farmland and wood collection areas near the border.

Locals living near the border say the many activities of the Arakan Army, the armed group controlling Rakhine, are making the border situation more uncertain. People worry about the group’s positions, posts and movements across the border. Locals say they can see many small posts in the thick jungle beyond the barbed wire fence. They claim members of the Arakan Army stay at these posts. However, no one could independently check the exact location of these posts or who stays there, so those concerned treat this as the claim of locals.

Another cause of worry is the ongoing conflict inside Myanmar. Fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army continues in Rakhine even now. In recent weeks, reports came out of casualties from an air strike by the Myanmar military on the Arakan Army in the Kyauktaw area, close to the Bangladesh border. The Arakan Army came under pressure, but its activity has not stopped.

Locals allege that drug smuggling from Myanmar into Bangladesh is rising by using the conflict and instability. They claim that a group linked to the Arakan Army uses some local drug dealers on the border to smuggle drugs. They also say some Rohingya youths are used to carry the drugs. Locals further allege that some of those carrying drugs also face the risk of landmine blasts along the way.

They also claim that smugglers try to move drugs through remote hills, jungles and different parts of the Naf river. BGB and other law enforcement agencies run regular drives to stop smuggling on the border. In these drives, they often arrest smugglers with Yaba, cannabis, ice and other drugs. Such arrests happen very often.

The biggest worry for border people is now the unseen landmine. Locals and Rohingya face risk when they go near the border for farming, fishing, collecting bamboo and wood, or other needs. The risk grows because ordinary people have no exact information on where mines are buried, especially in the remote hilly areas of the border. Locals say that after several mine blasts near the border, many people now fear going to the border areas without need.

Just beyond the border area that can be seen now stands Myanmar’s barbed wire fence. The thick jungle hides the fence, but some parts of it can be seen from far away. Locals claim that several small posts beyond the fence are used as positions of the Arakan Army.

Mine blasts, conflict across the border, the alleged activity of the Arakan Army and claims of drug smuggling together are raising security worry in the border areas. Locals demand more BGB patrols and watch on the border. They also want risky areas to be marked and ordinary people to be warned.

They say border farmers, fishers, wood and bamboo collectors and ordinary people moving near the border must be made aware of landmine risks on a regular basis. They also demand that drug smuggling routes be identified and watched strictly. They want authorities to stay alert about the activity of armed groups across the border.

Those concerned say the conflict in Rakhine is no longer only an internal problem of Myanmar. It has direct and indirect effects on the border areas of Bangladesh. So joint steps are now urgent to stop mine blasts, strengthen border security, end drug smuggling and keep border people safe.