Mohammad Ali Jinnat

The family of Lakingme Chakma finally received her body yesterday, 25 days after her mysterious death, and buried her in Ramu upazila of Cox’s Bazar.

The government yesterday began transferring Rohingyas to Bhasan Char from the congested camps in Ukhia and Teknaf where about a million of them have been living.

With suspended officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station Pradeep Kumar Das now behind bars over the killing of retired army major Sinha, stories are unearthed about the unwritten law of the upazila town: you pay, you live.

Rohingya leaders, who went on a “go-and-visit” to Bhashan Char housing project, said they were happy with the facilities there and that those were far better than their current living conditions in Teknaf and Ukhiya camps.

Nestled between hills on one side and the sea on the other, Marishbunia village in Teknaf’s Baharchhara union is pure beauty. Babbling brooks, mossy arched bridges and hibiscus shrubs in full bloom -- this was the last location where Maj (retd) Sinha Rashed Md Khan was filming before he was killed in police firing on July 31.

Witnesses in a narcotic case, filed against Stamford University student Shipra Debnath, claimed they were forced to sign on blank papers.

Two special police battalions, formed to ensure security of Rohingyas, have finally taken over the responsibility to ensure law and order inside the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

At least 30 top drug dealers, who have been in police’s “safe house” for the last seven months, are set to surrender in Cox’s Bazar today.

With one police jeep in front and another behind, three buses carried 96 arms makers and dealers along with robbers to Kalarmarchhara Union Parishad ground in Maheshkhali so that they surrender before Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan.

Three microbuses with tinted windows and no number plates entered the Cox’s Bazar Police Lines, escorted by four police vans on November 8.

The failure of the second attempt to begin repatriating the Rohingyas has once again exposed Myanmar’s lack of sincerity, experts said. Rohingyas say Myanmar has not taken into consideration any of their core demands -- guarantee of citizenship, recognition as an

The second attempt to start repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar today may turn out to be futile, as hardly any refugees seem to be willing to go back.

The much-awaited Rohingya repatriation is set to begin on Thursday, around 10 months after the first attempt failed as the refugees didn’t choose to go back.

Police are making preparations for a second surrender programme of yaba godfathers and dealers in Cox’s Bazar.

As law enforcers are looking into the properties of 102 yaba godfathers and dealers who have surrendered, their families and paid agents are trying to sell off the assets fearing those would be confiscated.

The critical biodiversity areas in Cox’s Bazar -- Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary, Himchhari National Park and Inani National Park -- face a grave risk of peril due to high level of human interventions following the Rohingya influx, according to two recent studies.

The surrender of 102 drug lords on February 16 now seems merely an eyewash as the yaba empire in Teknaf remains mostly intact with some of their family members and paid agents taking care of the illegal trade.

From political leaders to businessmen, fish traders to poultry farm owners and brickfield workers to tailors -- the professions of 102 yaba godfathers and dealers who surrendered to police on February 16 are as varied as their age.

A new strategy of yaba smuggling, involving fresh routes and hundi traders, has been at work since the surrender of 102 godfathers and dealers in Cox's Bazar in February.

The type of light guns put on display during the recent surrender of 102 narcos in Teknaf is easily available in Moheshkhali island, where illegal makeshift factories manufacture such firearms.