Death, abuse and torture: traffickers hold fleeing Rohingya to ransom for up to £3,000 a time

The Guardian
Kaamil Ahmed and Verena Hölzl in Cox's Bazar
Tue 5 Mar 2024 

People trapped in the world’s largest refugee camp hope to seek new lives elsewhere despite threats facing them as they attempt to leave Bangladesh 

An overloaded boat holding about 250 Rohingya refugees in Ulee Madon, Aceh province, Indonesia, 16 November 2023.   Photograph: Amanda Jufrian/AFP/Getty Images

Even as dehydration was getting to their passengers, the traffickers using boats to carry hundreds of Rohingya away from refugee camps in Bangladesh thrust phones into their hands and demanded they ask their relatives for money.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo pledged action against traffickers, not deportation of Rohingya

AFP
AFP Indonesia
Published on Tuesday 16 January 2024

After hundreds of Rohingya landed on the shores of Indonesia's Aceh province, a video was shared in social media posts that falsely claimed President Joko Widodo had called for the refugees to be expelled. The video -- which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times -- in fact shows the president pledging to take action against human traffickers suspected to be behind the recent influx and saying temporary humanitarian aid would be given to the refugees.

24 Rohingyas rescued while being trafficked to Malaysia

The Daily Star

Star Digital Report 

May 11, 2021

Police rescued 24 Rohingyas -- 14 female, five male, and five children -- from Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar while being trafficked to Malaysia.

The law enforcers also arrested four alleged human traffickers -- Md Ali Chand, Nurul Amin, Rashida Begum, and Razia Begum -- during two separate drives in Borodail Jahajpura and Jaliaghata villages yesterday (Monday), Md Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Model Police Station, told The Daily Star.