NOVANEWS
By Aung Aung
The Stateless
18 Rohingya from Minpya and Mrauk U towns of Arakan were persuaded to go to Yangon by a broker Maung Ni, (35 years of age). As Rohingyas are generally blocked from moving around, leaving their villages is impossible without the permission of the police. The broker had a good relationship with the police who had been blocking the Rohingya from leaving their villages.
On 16 February 2014, 18 Rohingya were transported by the broker and police by truck. 3 police accompanied them up to an area of dense forest where they saw another person. The police handed over those 18 Rohingya to the person standing there. One of the Rohingya asked the person who was standing there why they could not continue by truck and why they needed to go on foot. He told them that there was a checkpoint on the highway and that they needed to pass that. After a few minutes walking, there saw a group of armed people. The person who was leading them rushed over to the group. That group started shooting so everyone ran away, according to the testimony of one of the survivors.
2 survivors reached the next village after 3 days. They told people that they ran into the forest to escape. They said – “We heard some people screaming, we didn’t how could we reach here, 3 days, hiding and starving on the way. We can’t go to our village, we are hiding in another village, because if police heard about us, they would arrest us. We think all of those who were killed by them”.
