Bangladesh detains 23 boat migrants

Bangladeshi coast guards detained 23 boat migrants in the Bay of Bengal for attempting to migrate illegally to Malaysia, police said yesterday.

Guards acting on a tip confiscated the boat and arrested the migrants on Friday night on the Naff river estuary near the

Eighteen of those detained were Myanmar citizens who had entered illegally into Bangladesh, police said. They were to be deported.

The five Bangladeshi citizens would be charged for attempted illegal migration, police officer Abdur Razzak said.

The group was preparing to sail to Malaysia after paying a local agent, coast guard officer Lieutenant Masul Sikder said.

Bangladesh has stepped up a crackdown on groups smuggling economic migrants and ethnic Rohingya refugees out of the country to Malaysia, via a perilous and sometimes fatal sea crossing.

According to police, dozens of wooden boats overloaded with Rohingyas and Bangladeshi migrants, have attempted the approximately 3,200km (2,000 mile) journey since the monsoon rains ended in October.

Last week a boat carrying 120 people — mostly ethnic Rohingyas — capsized in the Bay of Bengal. Some 100 people survived, but the rest are missing and presumed drowned.

Since the accident, a series of BGB raids in the southeast coastal towns of Teknaf and Sabrum, which border Myanmar and host a large population of Rohingya refugees, have prevented a number of boats from illegally setting sail.

Described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities on earth, thousands of Muslim Rohingyas — who are not recognised as citizens in Myanmar — stream across the border into Muslim-majority Bangladesh every year.

They have been joined by a large number of impoverished Bangladeshis living in southeast coastal villages, who see Malaysia as their best — and closest — opportunity for carving out a new life.

The vast majority hope to secure unregistered work as manual labourers on construction sites.

Traffickers charge only around 20,000 taka ($300) for a boat ride to Malaysia, which is at least 15 times cheaper than the migration fees being charged by recruiting agencies.

Earlier this year, Malaysia announced an amnesty for more than half a million Bangladeshi illegal migrants.

The deal was only valid for two weeks in July, but still triggered a surge in the number of people willing to risk the sea crossing. Agencies

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