Maungdaw District General Administration Department will verify Bengalis before they are accepted for settlement in Myanmar

News Desk

The Maungdaw District General Administration Department will verify if the Bengalis [Rohingya] sent to Rakhine State after being arrested in Kawthaung Township in Tanintharyi Region are residents before they are accepted for settlement, said U Soe Aung, the Maungdaw District administrator.

A boat carrying the 172 Bengalis – 82 men, 68 women, 13 boys and nine girls – was intercepted off Kawthaung Township on December 15 and they were sent back to Rakhine State on January 13.
A total of 17 were sent to Thae Chaung village in Sittwe Township, where they had lived, and the other 155 were sent to Maungdaw.

“If they are found to have been residents of Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, we will accept them under the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine,” Soe Aung said.

He added that those who could not be verified as former residents of Rakhine would be sent to Bangladesh.