BGP Cutting Down, Selling Rohingya-woned Trees in North of Maungdaw

January 28, 2022

Due to setting fire to houses and massacre of Rohingya civilians by Burmese security forces in 2017, most of the people from Kyar Khaung Taung village, northern Maungdaw, Rakhine State fled to Bangladesh and now BGP is cutting down and selling the trees that belong to the villagers, locals report.

Currently, only 29 households live in the village that are being oppressed by Tun Tun Lwin, a deputy police chief who have moved from Nga Khu Ra, Sector- 5, to Border guard Police (BGP) post based in Kyar Khaung Taung.

A villager said that Tun Tun Lwin is cutting down trees from the compound of those who had fled the village in 2017 and those who are still living there.

According to the locals, the deputy police chief along with workers cuts down trees as he wishes and sells them to 40-year-old Mamu Roshid, a resident of Ward 4, U Sein Ja village.

A victim with the condition of anonymity said, “He is consuming our property as his inheritance. We do not know who to complain to. “No one dare to say anything against him as he is a weapon-holder.”

When some brave villagers approached Tun Tun Lwin one day, he sent them back by asking, “Do you have acknowledged documents of the lands? Do you have proofs of ownership?”

An eyewitness said that, sometimes, the deputy police chief cuts woods and keep them in the Rohingya compound at night and then extorts money from villagers the next day, accusing them of stealing some woods.

The administrator of Kyar Khaung Taung village is also involved in the crime and enjoying a share from Tun Tun Lwin, the eyewitness added.

BGP and military have already committed and are now committing this crime everywhere from where Rohingya Muslims fled in 2016 and 2017 so that they can easily disappear the landmarks of Rohingya villages and properties.

Reported By: Maung Wunna

Editor: Md. Shuaib