Over 400 Muslims, released from various prisons under the junta’s amnesty, resettled in Maungdaw and Buthidaung

More than 400 Muslims, who were released from various prisons in Myanmar under an amnesty of the military junta, are being resettled in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships  in northern Rakhine State.

According to a source in the Maungdaw immigration office, 440 people (361 people from Maungdaw and 79  from Buthidaung) were transported from Sittwe to Buthidaung by the junta authorities on 25 September through Aungtakkhong and Shwepyiton ferry ships.

Among them there are 264 male and  97 female, who are accommodated in  Maungdaw.

"They were originally from Maungdaw and fled to Bangladesh. The junta authorities are sending them to their relatives' houses. I saw two cars going towards Shweza village in the north of Maungdaw. One car went to Auk Ywa (Fay Zi) village and two others left towards Kanyin Tan. Altogether seven cars were used in the process," he added.

Total 70 men and  9 women  are scheduled to be resettled in Buthidaung township. An employee of the immigration department in Buthidaung also confirmed that such an initiative was taken.

"Once they arrive in Maungdaw and Buthidaung, they were checked at respective township immigration offices and  then they were transported to their residences by the vehicles.

The people were sent back to  their respective villages under the arrangement of army, police, immigration and general administration.

Nearly 440 Muslims, who have been released recently, were arrested from several locations of Myanmar as they tried to move to Malaysia illegally.

On 1 August,  111 Bangladeshi citizens were also released from various prisons by the  military council.

Rakhine State military council announced on 7 August that those 111 Bangladeshi citizens (including 3 women) will be transferred to their country under an agreement of two neighbouring countries. For some days, they will be temporarily detained in Buthidaung prison.

On the full moon day (1August), the junta released  7749 prisoners from  various prisons. In April 2020, during the tenure of  National League for Democracy (NLD) government, 800 Muslims  were released to commemorate the New Year. Nearly 600 of them were sent to Rakhine State and the remaining  were sent back to Bangladesh.

-----