The Border Guard Police (BGP) arbitrarily arrested two innocent Rohingyas and tortured them for ransom in southern Maungdaw on Monday, according to the locals.

The Border Guard Police responsible for the tortures and money extortion have been posted at a sub-camp of Border Guard Police at Inn-Din village under Regional Commandment Area (နယ္ေျမ) 8 in Myint-Hlut (Mer Ullah) village, in southern Maungdaw.

“The BGP raided the homes of Hasmat Ullah (son of) Rahmat Ullah in Thinbaw Kway (Kullon) village around 11:00PM at night. Then, they searched his home. Though nothing illegal was found at his home, they arbitrarily arrested and took him to their custody.

There, in the custody, the police tortured him severely and forced him to say that he used Bangla Mobile Phones. After that, the police released him around 10:00AM on December 1 extorting Kyat 150,000” said a local Rohingya asking to withhold his identity.

This is not first case that the BGP have committed atrocities in the region.

“Similarly, on November 28, the BGP arrested another innocent man called Ali Ahmed (son of) Zafar Ahmed hails from the same village and tortured him until he paid Kyat 150,000” he added.

“Therefore, we request to the higher officials of the government of Myanmar to take actions the BGP so that they stop their barbaric and lawless behavior, arbitrary arrest of the innocent people and torture against them for ransom” he requested.

The Myanmar Border Guard Police has escalated seizing internet-connected electronic devices such as smart phones and other devices from Rohingya people in Maungdaw and Buthidaung Townships, some reliable sources say.

Meanwhile, the motive behind the seizures of the devices from the people has not exactly been known. But locals view the action as disabling them from sending the reports of the atrocities against them to international media. And hence, to silence their voice!

“A Rohingya man from Buthidaung was arrested in Maungdaw with the possession of a mobile phone with internet connection on December 2. So, during the investigation, he said he had bought the phone from an electronic shop called Hitachi located in Quarter 2.

So, the Border Guard Police (BGP) arrested Zeyabul Hoque (son of) Hamid, 25, the owner of the shop. He was handcuffed and taken to Buthidaung prison. Now, the BGP demand Kyat 1oM for the release for Zeyabul Hoque” said a local in Maungdaw on condition of anonymity.

“Similarly, on the same day, the BGP raided two other Rohingya-owned electrical and electronic shops: one owned by Hasan Johar (son of) Jamil, 21; and Qaif (son of) Mv Hamid, 22.

In the former’s shop, his computer was checked. No illegal material was found. But the police seized two smart phones with internet connection and an ordinary phone saying that they had found a Bangla number in the contact list.

In the latter’s shop, his computer was checked as well. Nothing illegal was found. One smart phone and an income tax recipient were confiscated. After half an hour, the police returned his phone but not the receipt.

All other electronic shops were raided. Therefore, the other Rohingyas closed their shops in fear” he continued.

The raid to confiscate electronic devices didn’t end just on Tuesday. They did the similar raids yesterday as well.

“A joint operation including Maungdaw Regional Security Police (နယ္ထိန္း အဖဲြ႕) the two electronic shops owned by the two brothers: Abbbu (son of) Yousuf, 25, and Khatu (son of) Yousuf, 23, respectively.

They checked the computer of the former and confiscated two smart phones from his shop. After, the police arrested him and took him away. The latter brother’s computer was checked but he was not arrest. The shops are located in the downtown of Maungdaw” an elderly Rohingya reported.

“We feel that there is some unfortunate things may happen against us. Therefore, the government forces are disabling our means of communication first” he added

Maungdaw Township High Court handed 2-year-imprisonment each to eight innocent Rohingyas on Tuesday, say the locals.

It has been learnt that they were arrested for their refusal to be registered as Bengali during the Myanmar’s nationwide population in March-April and subsequently charged under the section ‘353’ which deals with Prevention of Government Servants from performing their duties.

All of them are the locals of Kyauk Hle Kar village in northern Maungdaw. They are identified to be:

Zahir Ahmed (son of) Abdu Subhahan, 50

Noor Alam (son of) Sayedur Rahman, 42

Mohammed Noor (son of) Noor Alam, 25

Idiris (son of) Zahir Ahmed, 18

Majid (son of) Mohammed Alam, 17

Zafar (son of) Noor Alam, 25

Hf Shobu Alam (son of) Mohammed Akbar, 28

Amin (son of) Ahmed Kabir, 18

“Eight people including youths and under-age were arrested in Kyauk Hle Kar village in the early April and charged under section 353. They didn’t cause any problems to the way of the government staffs during the population survey.

According to the regulations of the census, everyone has the right to identify with the ethnic name they like.

They peacefully refused to be registered as Bengali because the government staffs refused to register them as Rohingya. So, they committed no offense” said a local Rohingya observer of the trial.

“During the trial, the family members of the people were not allowed to attend as the observers. No lawyers provided for the side of the accused. Only the complainants (the Border Guard Police), Prosecutors, Accused and Judge were present in the court. It was a closed-door trial.

Therefore, the trial was extremely unfair” he added.