12 Bangladesh Pilgrims Sentenced to Six Months in Burmese Prison
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Dhaka: 12 Bangladesh pilgrims were sentenced to six months in prison in Burma last week for entering the country with fake Burmese ID cards, said a Burmese monk from Sittwe.
"They were arrested by Burmese authorities in the towns of Taungup and Sittwe when they were coming to Burma to see several sacred Buddhist places in Burma using Burmese national ID cards. Now the authority has sentenced them to six months in prison," he said.
Nine Bangladesh citizens were arrested with fake Burmese national ID cards at a road checkpoint located in Taungup Township in Arakan as they were traveling to Burma proper by bus.
Another three were arrested by immigration officials at the Sittwe airport in possession of forged national ID cards as they were waiting to fly from Sittwe to Rangoon.
According to the source, they were brought to Burma by some monks staying in Bangladesh for a pilgrimage using forged national ID cards that were issued by immigration officers who had been bribed.
"On their ID cards, nine of the Bangladesh citizens had listed that they were from Dedaye and Labutta Township in Burma's delta division, but the authorities who checked them doubted it when they asked questions because they could not speak in Burmese. After that, the authorities arrested them and sent them to prison," the monk added.
After their arrest, the authorities charged them in the Taungup Township court under immigration law for entering Burma illegally with forged ID cards.
"I saw nine Bangladesh citizens in Taungup police station's lockup after their arrest. Among them, eight were elderly women and one is a man. All the Bangladeshis are Buddhists from Bandarban District in Bangladesh," said an elder from Taungup.
The Bangladesh citizens were identified as Marama nationals from Rownsari in Bandarban District. According to a family source, they traveled to Burma last month through the Maungdaw border point to do a pilgrimage.
It was learned that this is the first time a group of Bangladeshi citizens have been arrested by Burmese authorities for traveling illegally to Burma for a pilgrimage.
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