Barbed wire fencing was erected around 33 Rohingya refugee camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar at a cost of about 1.95 billion taka, but the Rohingyas are now fleeing the camps in various districts including Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar by cutting the barbed wire. fence.
According to Rohingya leaders and law enforcement agencies, Rohingyas are fleeing the camps due to uncertainty over repatriation, permanent settlement in Bangladesh and in search of additional income and work.
Currently, 12.5 million Rohingya are registered in 33 refugee camps, and 800,000 of them arrived in Bangladesh in the next few months after 25 August 2017. However, not a single Rohingya refugee has been repatriated in the last six years.
According to information provided by police, intelligence agencies and local representatives, more than 300,000 Rohingya have fled the refugee camps in six years, and at least 150,000 of them live in settlements in the mountainous area of Cox’s Bazar city, while the remaining 150,000 Rohingyas have settled here. Teknaf, Ukhia, Idgaon, Ramu and Chakrai upazilas of Cox’s Bazar and various upazilas of three hilly terrain districts – Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati. Law enforcement agencies, including the police, have detained 68,572 Rohingyas in 16 districts including Chattogram, Manikganj, Cumilla, Jashore, Naugaon, Satkhira, Chandpur and Barisal in the last six years and sent them back to refugee camps.
