Dhaka: Bangladesh security forces have shot dead a Rohingya woman in a border town known as a gateway for smuggling meth pills from neighbouring Myanmar, officials said Sunday.
Rights activists said Rumana Akter, 20, was the first Rohingya woman to be killed in a clampdown by Bangladesh authorities against the narcotics trade.
She was one of three alleged smugglers killed in two separate incidents in Teknaf, which is close to refugee camps housing about one million Muslim Rohingya who have fled from Myanmar. Teknaf is a hub for dealing in “yaba” — a methamphetamine-based stimulant that translates in
Thai as “crazy medicine” — which has become popular in Bangladesh. More than 300 people — including nearly 20 Rohingya — have been killed in the clampdown launched in May last year. Impoverished Rohingya refugees are used by dealers to transport the drug from Myanmar, officials say. A military crackdown against the Rohingya in August 2017 sparked an exodus of 740,000 refugees to flee the country and join some 300,000 refugees already in camps in Bangladesh. (AFP)
