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53,948 registered in 2024, each pays over Tk 1 lakh to cross border

Rohingya people are still entering Bangladesh from Mymanmar’s conflict-hit state of Rakhine illegally by paying money to boatmen and brokers on both sides of the border.

The Rohingya intruders are using land and river routes along borders under Ukhiya and Teknaf upazilas in Cox’s Bazar and Naikhongchhari Upazila in Bandarban to reach Bangladesh, the community people and officials in Cox’s Bazar said.

According to the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, 53,948 Rohingyas received temporary joint registration from the RRRC and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for entering the camps in 2024. Most of them took registration in August and September of the year.

In 2024, a total of 225 Rohingyas were registered in January, 115 in February, 101 in March, 229 in April, 314 in May, 1, 135 in June, 5,809 in July, 27, 879 in August, 15, 296 in September, 2,546 in October, 179 in November and 120 Rohingyas were registered in December, according to the RRRC data.

It also showed that 116 were registered in January and 40 in February in 2025.    

There are 34 camps for Rohingyas in Ukhiya and Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char in Noakhali, RRRC officials said. 

Border Guard Bangladesh officials, however, said that they had sent back over 15,000 Rohingyas from borders in Ukhiya and Teknaf from May 2024 to February 2025.

A number of Rohingya people who entered Bangladesh illegally in 2024 alleged that each of them had to pay nearly 20 lakh Myanmar Kyat, equivalent to Tk 1.16 lakh, to both Myanmar and Bangladeshi people to enter Bangladesh.

Of the 20 lakh Mymanmar Kyat, the Rohingyas had to pay 15 lakh Kyat, equivalent to Tk 87,090, to Arakan Army and Kyat 5 lakh, equivalent to Tk 29,030, to boatmen and brokers.

Mujib Ullah, 40, a resident of Buthidaung town in the Northen Rakhaine State of Myanmar, entered Bangladesh by boat through the Teknaf border with his wife and six children on December 10, 2024.

‘I had to pay 60 lakh kyat for three persons – myself, my wife and my adult child. As my five other children are minors and teenagers, I did not have to pay for them. Of the amount, I had to pay 45 lakh kyat to Arakan Army and 15 lakh to boatmen and brokers,’ Mujib Ullah, now staying at a camp in Ukhiya, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on March 2.

He said that he entered Bangladesh by boat crossing the River Naf and none of the law enforcement agencies was seen during his intrusion.

He claimed that the Arakan Army had arrested his only brother, vandalised and set fire to their house.

‘I have no other option but to flee with my family to save our lives,’ Mujib added.

Echoing almost the same expenditure, Sawiddur Rahman, another resident of Buthidaung town in Northern Rakhine State in Myanmar, said that he, his wife and three children entered Bangladesh using the land route on December 7, 2024 in the Tambru area of Naikkhangchhari in Bandarban.

‘I had to pay 60 lakh to the Arakan Army for myself, my wife and two children. The broker took Tk 15 lakh for five persons to enter into Bangladesh using the No Man’s Land along Tambru border,’ Sawiddur, living in another camp in Ukhiya said.

Like Mujib Ullah and Sawiddur Rahman, several Rohingyas sheltered in the camp recently expressed the same experience.

Most of the Rohingyas said that they entered Bangladesh in the dark of night between 10:00pm and 4:00am.

They, however, claimed that they did not require paying money for their minor children as the money was collected for only adult people.

Although BGB officials claimed that they never heard about collecting money by the Arakan Army, boatmen and brokers, Armed Police Battalion officials said that they heard about the matter from the people in Rohingya camps.

A racket comprising people from Myanmar and Bangladesh is working in the area to help Rohingyas enter Bangladesh illegally, according to Border Guard Bangladesh officials.

On March 1, the BGB launched its 64 Ukhiya Battalion in Cox’s Bazar amid rising tension between the Myanmar military junta and the Arakan Army along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

With the latest Ukhiya Battalion, the BGB now has four battalions in Cox’s Bazar district.

BGB Teknaf-2 battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Md Ashikur Rahman said that they had sent back more than 15, 000 Rohingyas who tried to enter Bangladesh illegally from May 2024 to February 2025.

‘The victims did not share about spending money to us during interrogation,’ he added.

Asked about the intrusion of Rohingyas in nighttime, he said that it would be difficult to cover a large area with the physical presence of BGB members.

‘We have to update our monitoring by using upgraded devices to check illegal Rohingya intrusion,’ the BGB official added.

APBN 16th Battalion commanding officer Kawser Shikdar, also an additional deputy inspector general of police, said that they heard about the issue of taking money from Rohingyas to enter Bangladesh.

Local people and Rohingyas alleged that many Rohingyas were now living outside the camps and involved in criminal activities with the help of a section of local people.

RRRC top official Mohammed Mizanur Rahman said that the number of people outside the camp was low.

Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner Mohammad Salahuddin told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Saturday that the BGB required some advanced technologies to tackle the illegal intrusion of Rohingyas and middlemen in the Bangladesh part.

‘We are trying our best to tackle the illegal intrusion of Rohingyas,’ the DC added.

Against the backdrop, the United Nations World Food Programme has warned of a critical funding shortfall for its emergency response operations in Bangladesh, jeopardising food assistance for over one million displaced Rohingya people in Bangladesh.

Without urgent new funding, monthly rations must be halved to $6 per person, down from $12.50 per person – just as Rohingyas prepare to observe Eid-ul-Fitr, said a WFP press release on March 7.   

Asked about the impact of the food ration cut in camps and overall law and order, RRRC top official Mohammed Mizanur Rahman said that ‘hungry people always remain angry’ and Rohingyas would be involved in criminal activities.

‘Yaba smuggling would increase in the region. The UN fund is the lone source of food ration for Rohingyas,’ he added.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the interim government has continued efforts to send back Rohingyas to their homeland Myanmar without any progress, with the number of displaced people sheltered in Bangladesh camps now standing at 1.3 million.

Myanmar’s military regime and international communities, including the United Nations Refugee Agency, have generally been blamed for the failure to send back Rohingya people to Myanmar since the large-scale exodus that began in August 2017, amid a military crackdown on the persecuted community in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

The number of Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh camps is increasing with average new births of 30,000 every year.

The government data shows that, out of the total Rohingya people sheltered in Bangladesh camps, 10,05,520 are registered.