Smugglers desperate at border as conflict continues in Myanmar

NAIKHONGCHARI CORRESPONDENT, BANDARBAN

Smugglers at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border are resorting to increasingly desperate measures as the conflict between the government and rebel forces in Myanmar’s Rakhine State continues. Traders in both countries are focusing more on smuggling, which is causing drug use and other illegal activities to spread in the border districts. This is leading to wasted youth and billions of takas in lost revenue for the government.

Intelligence-based information shows that Myanmar’s rebel groups are building new facilities in the border area with active weapons. The Myanmar government is preparing for any kind of conflict, including increasing military personnel in the border area.

Smuggling is increasing day by day in the wide area of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border due to the ongoing conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, particularly in pillar numbers 32 and 52. Rebel groups like the Arakan Army and Arsa are resorting to illegal businesses to collect financial funds and emphasize smuggling activities in the border areas. Separatist terrorist groups are also taking advantage of the situation in the border areas.

Many locals fear that if smuggling syndicates are not destroyed, they will become more active in the future, leading to law and order deterioration along with smuggling in the border areas.

34 BGB captain Lt. Colonel Mehmed Saiful Islam Chowdhury, responsible for the Ghumdhum area, said that BGB soldiers are being cautious, and patrolling and surveillance have been intensified. However, smugglers are still being chased, and soldiers have seized stolen goods worth several crores of takas in the last month.