Rohingya robbers threw them into sea after looting trawler on Jan 2, incident comes to light after arrest of a ‘killer’
An alleged Rohingya robber on Sunday night described how five Rohingyas had hacked to death 11 Bangladeshi fellow fishermen on Wednesday near Sonarchar Dwip [island] in Barguna district and dumped the bodies in the sea.
Fisherman Hamidul Haque, 45, son of late Syed Akbar of Budichong area in Myanmar, narrated the gruesome incident to Ukhia police of Cox’s Bazar district in presence of journalists. He claimed himself innocent.
A Myanmar citizen, Hamidul has been living in Cox’s Bazar town for long.
Sub-Inspector (SI) Sayeed Miah, also duty officer of Inani Police Outpost, said law enforcers of the outpost had recovered the attacked trawler and arrested Hamidul, who was then in the boat, from the coastal Pathuartek area in Ukhia around 8:00pm Sunday.
They later handed the arrestee over to the Ukhia police, added the SI.
Hamidul told police that their trawler had gone fishing in the deep sea with 16 fishermen — 11 Bangladeshis and five Rohingyas. On Wednesday, the Rohingyas on board swooped on the Bangladeshis.
According to Hamid, his fellow Rohingya fishermen were Ali Chand, 25, Bashir Ahmed, 35, Sabbir Ahmed, 24, and Shaheen, 26. They along with their families had been living illegally in Kolatoli, Boidderghona and Fishery Ghat areas of Cox’s Bazar, and in Mohipur area of Patharghata.
SI Sayeed Miah said the Rohingya fishermen had been heading towards Myanmar with the 74-horsepower trawler.
But, the engine broke near Patuartek. On information police with the help of local fishermen recovered the trawler and arrested Hamidul. The four other Rohingya fishermen had managed to flee, said the SI.
Officer-in-Charge of Ukhia Police Station Appela Raju Naha said they had gleaned important information from Hamidul.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Joynal Abedin of Inani Police Outpost said they had identified eight of the victims from Hamidul’s description. They are Jasim Uddin of Gorakghata in Moheshkhali, Rafiq, Belal, Syed Alam, Sohag, Jafar, Abbas and Abul Mistry of Patharghata.
Ukhia police sources said the owners of the attacked trawler, Babul and Sentu of Patharghata upazila, had filed a General Diary (GD) with the local police in connection with the robbery.
When Babul was contacted over mobile phone, he said he did not have any trawler and that he did not know anything about the robbery or the killing.
Additional Police Superintendent of Cox’s Bazar Babul Akter said he would interrogate the arrestee again.
-With The Daily Star input
