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Dozens of Rohingya escape Aceh refugee camp, trafficked to Malaysia: Officials
At least 67 Rohingya have escaped from a temporary refugee camp in Lhokseumawe City, Aceh, and are believed to have been trafficked to neighboring Malaysia, local officials said
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A wooden boat transports Rohingya refugees after it was intercepted in the waters off Bireuen, Aceh province, on Dec. 27, 2021. (AFP/STR)
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t least 67 Rohingya refugees have escaped from a temporary camp in Lhokseumawe City, Aceh, and are believed to have been trafficked to neighboring Malaysia, local officials said.
Lhokseumawe Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Eko Hartanto said the Rohingya made their escape from the refugee camp in Meunasah Mee Kandang village in the coastal district of Muara Batu throughout the past year. Police believed human trafficking syndicates were involved.
Eko said the syndicate members were from several areas in North Sumatra province, which is south of Aceh, including Medan, Deli Serdang, Tebing Tinggi and Tanjung Balai. He added that they would pick up Rohingya refugees in Aceh and bring them down to Medan before trafficking them to Malaysia through the province’s Tanjung Balai Port.
“This is the work of syndicates. This is their known modus [operandi],” Eko told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
The police have been tracking the syndicate's operations for some time, he said. Syndicate members would damage the engine of incoming Rohingya boats, knowing that they would be towed and placed in temporary refugee camps in Aceh, before helping them escape.
“We already have 12 similar cases with 14 suspects. We aim to put a stop to this,” Eko said.
A Myanmar military crackdown in 2017, which United Nations investigators said amounted to genocide, forced 750,000 Rohingya to flee across the border into Bangladesh's southeast coastal district of Cox's Bazar, where many ended up in sprawling refugee camps.
