Myanmar arrests 70 R ohingya after crash

YANGON: Seventy Rohingya people hiding in a truck transporting ginger were arrested north of Yangon ater the vehicle crashed into a roadside canal, the Myanmar junta said on Sunday.

Rohingya in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state are widely regarded as illegal immigrants in the country and have long faced discrimination, restrictions on travel and been denied citizenship, health care and education.

The arrests took place a week ago, the Myanmar junta said in a statement.

The group of mostly men were hiding under ginger bags in the truck when it crashed into the canal, the statement said.

A Bangladeshi citizen was also arrested and authorities were searching for two Myanmar nationals who were driving the truck and riding in the cabin.

Rohingya people convicted of violating immigration laws can face two years in jail in Myanmar.

Amnesty International likens their living conditions in Rakhine state to “apartheid.”

A Myanmar military crackdown in 2017 forced some 750,000 Rohingya to flee Rakhine state for Bangladesh following widespread accounts of murder, arson and rape.

Myanmar is facing genocide accusations at the United Nation’s top court following the mass exodus.

The southeast Asian nation has been in chaos since Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government was toppled in a military coup in February 2021, ending its brief period of democracy.

This week, Bangladesh’s main military intelligence agency charged the leader of a Rohingya insurgent group and more than 60 others over the murder of an intelligence officer this month.

Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi is the founder of the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA), which is fighting for an independent homeland in Rakhine. A team of elite Bangladeshi police conducted an anti-drug raid at one of the camps on Nov.14. Police said Rizwan Rushdie, a senior officer the of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, was shot and then hacked to death by alleged ARSA members.