Teknaf police arrest Rohingya youths with 222 Myanmar SIM cards

Gofran Chowdhury/Legalvoice24 :

On September 2, the government directed mobile phone operators to stop selling SIM cards and telecommunication services in the Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar

Police have arrested three Rohingyas with 222 Myanmar SIM cards from Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar.

With the help of an Ansar team posted at the main gate of Teknaf land port, police arrested them around 5pm on Tuesday, Officer-in-Charge of Teknaf Model police station, Pradip Kumar Das said.

The arrestees are: Nur Hasan, 22, Salim, 26, and Robi Alam, 22.

According to police and locals, the security guards at the gate of the land port stopped the three Rohingya youths when they were trying to smuggle the SIM cards using a trawler.

Later, a team led by Sub-Inspector Sabbir detained the Rohingyas and found the SIM cards after searching them.

On September 2, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) asked mobile phone operators to stop the sale of SIM cards and telecommunication services in the Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar.

The instruction was given considering state security and for the sake of protecting law and order, in the interest of public safety.

The notice was issued following allegations that mobile phone operators were selling SIM cards and providing mobile phone services to the Rohingya community in violation of a government ban.

This resulted in some Rohingyas trying to smuggle SIM cards through the border, and mostly by using the main gate of the Teknaf land port.