Bangladesh border guards break fishing boats to deter smuggling of Rohingya refugees and drugs
Cox’s Bazar — Bangladesh has destroyed at least 30 wooden fishing boats to deter local captains from smuggling Rohingya refugees and illegal drugs across the border from strife-torn Myanmar, officials said Thursday. Border guards seized the vessels and arrested the captains after they were intercepted on Tuesday evening bringing more than 700 Rohingya Muslims across the river from Myanmar’s western-most Rakhine state. The boatmen were also caught in possession of about 100,000 "yaba" pills, an illegal stimulant popular in Bangladesh, said a border guard official. More than 500,000 Rohingya have fled ethnic bloodshed in Rakhine since late August, many by boat across the Naf River, which divides Myanmar and Bangladesh.
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