The Myanmar Government officials has been fully involved in the recent escalation of trafficking of the violence hit and persecuted Rohingya people from Arakan state via Thailand to Malaysia, according to the reliable sources.

The vulnerable people, during the perilous journey to Malaysia, face tortures and inhumane treatments in the hands of Myanmar’s authority, Thai smugglers and their own people who work as human traffickers and transporters. Moreover, the Rohingya women are frequently fall victims of rapes and sexual abuses in their hands enroute to Malaysia.

“Around 1:00AM on October 17, an engine boat with around 50 Rohingya people aboard left the coast the sea coast of Alay Than Kyaw village, southern Maungdaw. The exact departing place is the river of Gudaa Chaung by Montula village to the south of Alay Than Kyaw (also knownas Haishshu Rata) Bazaar.

The arrangement was made by some human traffickers hail from Haanfu village of Alay Than Kyaw village tract. They are:

1) U Zaw Htoo (a Rakhine , the ex-administrator of Alay Than Kyaw)

2) Salim (son of) Mohammed Amin, age 47

3) Shomshu Karim (son of) Mohammed Amin, Age 42

4) And Karim (son of) Mohammed Amin, Age 39 (the latter three are brothers.)

They were fully guarded and protected by the military under the infantry unit based in the nearby Byu Haa Hmuu village, whereas no military were known for giving protections to the Rohingyas but for killing and torturing them. The military were helping the traffickers and those Rohingyas leaving just to depopulate Rohingyas in the country.

The human traffickers charged Kyat 150,000 per person and hence, Kyat 7.5 Million were collected in total. Of the amount, the traffickers paid:

1) Kyat 600,000 to the military commander at the above-mentioned infantry unit

2) Kyat 500,000 the *Border Guard Police Commander in Alay Than Kyaw village

3) Kyat 300,000 to the Military Security and Intelligence (SaYaPha) based in Alay Than Kyaw village

4) And Kyat 400,000 to the administrator of Alay Than Kyaw village, Maung Than Naing, a Rakhine extremist.

Besides, there are reports that more engine boats are about to set off from Myint Hlut (Mer Ullah) village, southern Maungdaw, in the coming days” said an eyewitness requesting not to be identified.

It has been learnt that people leave the Arakan coast with small engine boats and then, the get on bigger sized boats waiting standby at the international water in the Bay of Bengal. The boats are hired either from Thailand or Arakan Liberation Party (ALP). 

The irony is that the ordinary Rohingyas have no freedom to move from a region to a region, the human traffickers can roam free lure Rohingya people all over Arakan.

“Eenus (son of) Jabir and Inamullah (son of) Ismail are the two human traffickers hail from Pa Nyaung Pin Gyi (Daang Khali) village, southern Maungdaw. They are allowed the authority to roam free all over Maungdaw. Then, they, in full cooperation with the government officials, smuggle people from the coast of their village to Malaysia via Thailand.

They go to Myoma Kayintan (Shidda Fara) and gather people coming from northern Maungdaw and other townships in the village. Then, they keep some beautiful women at the residence of Eenus. The administrator of the village, MontazUllah, visits the Eenus’s house and each time rapes a woman to his heart content.

On October 8, Eenus brought a woman (her name withheld for privacy), a mother of one child, from Myint Hlut village in southern Maungdaw to his house. There, Eenus in cooperation with the administrator held her a sex captive threatening her be handed over to the Border Guard Police had not she consented. Hence, they repeatedly assaulted for two days.

The victimized woman somehow managed to escape from this house after two days and get back to her house.

Similarly, on September 28, the same administrator sexually abused a young woman hails from northern Maungdaw. He first took her off to the sea with a boat saying he would send her to the bigger boat waiting in the middle of the sea. On the boat, he raped her and continued doing so for one week.

And he sent her to Thailand by boat on October” said an elderly Rohingya from the village.

We have similar reports that the human traffickers in Thailand: both Thai and Rohingya themselves rape the women travelling across the sea and arriving in Thailand.

We strongly believe that it is a consequence of the Myanmar’s regime systematic and institutionalized ill policy to lead Rohingya community to a self-destruction. The government prevents our people from doing good and encourage the bad ones and black-sheep in the community to continue their bad and anti-social activities with impunity.

International Government Bodies need to take serious actions to bust these human trafficking rings and also pressure the Myanmar government to take actions against its corrupt officials and the human traffickers in its country. Else, it will cause serious regional problems in the long run.

*Border Guard Police Commander in Alay Than Kyaw village is the commander of Border Guard Police of Detha 3 (Region 3) [formerly called commandment area 7- Nay Myay 7] in southern Maungdaw.