Yangon: Myanmar authorities will repatriate 200 Bangladeshi boat people rescued by Myanmar navy under an agreement between the two countries, a media report said on Tuesday.
The 200 migrants out of 208, sheltered at relief camps in Ale Thankyaw village of Maungtaw in Rakhine state, were scrutinised as Bangladeshi citizens from Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and northern Dhaka who had sought to migrate to Thailand and Malaysia for jobs, Xinhua news agency reported.
Foreign ministries of the two countries have arranged the repatriation. The other eight were found to be Bengalis from Rakhine state.
In its regular patrolling in Myanmar’s territorial waters, the Myanmar navy intercepted two suspected fishing trawlers off the western coast of Maungtaw, western Rakhine stateon May 21, with one having 208 people on board and the other with no passengers.
Investigation by the Myanmar government found that some of the boat migrants were victims of human trafficking and crime syndicates after receiving offer of work in Thailand and Malaysia from illegal job brokers.