Bangladesh seizes cooking oil, medicines hoarded for ‘smuggling into war-torn Myanmar’

Several areas in Rakhine have been cut off from the rest of Myanmar because of ongoing military-rebel conflict

The Rapid Action Battalion or RAB has seized cooking oil, medicines and food items that were allegedly being smuggled into conflict-ridden Myanmar through the Teknaf border in Cox’s Bazar.

The goods were found in a chicken farm in the Hatiarghona area on Monday night, RAB spokesman Commander Khandaker Al Moin said in a statement on Tuesday.

Several areas in Myanmar’s bordering State of Rakhine have been cut off from the rest of Myanmar because of the ongoing military-rebel conflict while Myanmar’s trade with Bangladesh through Teknaf has also come to a halt.
A group of smugglers have taken this situation as an opportunity and loaded the vehicle with the goods for selling in Myanmar, the RAB said.

Two people were arrested in the RAB operation. The arrestees – Abdul Mannan, 24, and Ali Hossain, 45 – have been accused in a case at Teknaf Police Station.

Around five people tried to flee the scene and the RAB arrested two of them during the operation on the house of Abul Bashar, father of arrestee Mannan, Moin said.

Later, the RAB seized 4,470 liters of soybean oil, 500 kg of flour and 136,550 pieces of various types of medicines from Bashar's chicken farm.

The RAB said this group of smugglers used to bring illicit drugs from Myanmar in exchange for food and medicine.