Border Guard Bangladesh operations

[Rezwan12]

02:22 PM, March 03, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 02:39 PM, March 03, 2020

2 including BGB man killed in Khagrachhari clash: police

Star Online Report

Two people including a member of Border Guard Bangladesh were killed in a clash between the para-military force and timber traders in Matiranga upazila of Khagrachhari this afternoon, police said.

The clash took place when BGB members wanted to stop a timber-laden truck and were resisted by the traders, our Bandarban correspondent reports quoting Khagrachhari Additional Superintendent of Police MN Salauddin.

The bodies were sent to Matiranga Upazila Health Complex.

Details about the incident could not be known immediately.

 

https://www.thedailystar.net/country/news/2-including-bgb-man-killed-khagrachhari-clash-police-1875817

[Maisson]

Four die in clashes between border guards and villagers in Khagrachhari

Published: 03 Mar 2020 03:06 PM BdST Updated: 03 Mar 2020 07:42 PM BdST

Four people, including a member of the Border Guard Bangladesh, have died in “clashes between the BGB personnel and villagers” in Khagrachhari, police say.

The incident took place around 12pm on Tuesday at Gazinagar in Matiranga Upazila, said Matiranga Police Station OC Shamsuddin Bhuiyan.

The police initially confirmed that Ahammad Ali, 25, and BGB battalion member Md Shaon, 40, died on the spot. Ali’s father Musa Mia, 60, and brother Ali Akbar, 27, were also killed in the incident, they later said.

A group of villagers clashed with the BGB at the Gazinagar checkpoint leaving Ahammad and Shaon dead on the scene, said OC Shamsuddin. Ahammad was shot but police could not figure out how Shaon died.

Musa was carrying logs in a trolley along with his two sons when the BGB members stopped them at the checkpoint, said Musa’s younger brother Md Ibrahim. The two groups had an altercation, he said.

“At one point, the BGB members opened fire and killed my brother Musa and both nephews,” he said.

He also claimed Musa’s wife Ronsu Begum, 50, died suddenly on hearing the news of deaths of her husband and two sons.

The police could not confirm the news of Ronsu’s death but OC Shamsuddin said three of the same family died in the incident that also left the BGB member dead.

Two villagers -- Mofiz Mia, 50, and Md Hanif, 28 -- were shot during the fight, said Shamsuddin. They were sent to the Chattogram Medical College Hospital, he said.

Another villager, Abdur Rahim, alleged the BGB personnel fired at one stage of the altercation that started after the border guards tried to “confiscate” the logs Musa and his sons had cut from their garden.

Farmer Md Faruk, who claimed to be a witness, said the border guards tried to stop one of their colleagues when the BGB man fired his weapon.

“That BGB man then started shooting at the other border guards,” he said.

Shaon died after being hit by a bullet at the time, the villagers claimed.

Asked about the claim that Shaon was shot dead by his colleagues, Saifullah Mohammad Miraz, the commander of 40 BGB Battalion, said they would speak about the incident later.

Tension mounted in Gazinagar following the incident. The army’s Guimara region commander Brig Gen Mohammad Shahriar Zaman, Khagrachhari Deputy Commissioner Protap Chandra Biswas, Superintendent of Police Abdul Aziz and other top officials visited the site.

Brig Gen Zaman said those responsible for the incident will face action. He did not say who were involved in the incident and how. 

Deputy Commissioner Protap said the authorities formed a three-member committee headed by Additional District Magistrate Rezaul Karim to investigate the incident. The other members are Additional SP MM Salauddin and the divisional forest officer.

“We’re trying to contact them and will share the information later,” Shariful Islam, a BGB spokesman at its headquarters, told bdnews24.com.

Brig Gen Zaman said those responsible for the incident will face action. He did not say who were involved in the incident.

Deputy Commissioner Protap said the authorities formed a three-member committee headed by Additional District Magistrate Rezaul Karim to investigate the incident. The other members are Additional SP MM Salauddin and the divisional forest officer.

“We’re trying to contact them and will share the information later,” Shariful Islam, a BGB spokesman at its headquarters, told bdnews24.com.

The BGB in a statement said the “untoward incident” occurred when the members of the force “took measures to stop smuggling of illegal logs”.

Civilians surrounded the BGB personnel creating tension and at one stage the BGB fired once into the air, the statement said.

The civilians snatched away the border guards’ firearms and fired them haphazardly causing the deaths, it said.

[Maisson]

BGB cannot shrug off responsibility

Says NHRC over killing of 5; camp withdrawn

The authorities of Border Guard Bangladesh cannot avoid the responsibilities in the killing of five people in Khagrachhari's Matiranga upazila, thinks the National Human Rights Commission.

The rights body came up with the statement yesterday, a day after a deadly clash that left five people, including a BGB member, dead and subsequently forced the BGB authorities to "temporarily" withdraw a camp in the area yesterday.

The statement said no matter who had fired the shots, BGB was the custodian of all the firearms used in the killings, and therefore, could not avoid responsibility.    

Expressing grave concern over the incident, the commission said the matter was very sensitive and should be subjected to a fair probe to find out whether the situation had warranted the use of firearms. 

The NHRC demanded those responsible be brought to book and wrote to the home ministry to take steps following proper investigation. 

At least five people, including a BGB member, were killed and several others injured in a clash between members of the paramilitary force and villagers over illegal logging at Gazinagar village under Khagrachhari's Matiranga upazila on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, BGB claimed that it withdrew its camp on security grounds, reports our Khagrachhari correspondent.

"We have moved the Gazinagor BGB camp temporarily following directives from high officials", said GHM Selim Hasan, sector commander of BGB in Guimara region.

However, the district's Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohammad Abdul Aziz yesterday told The Daily Star that the BGB camp was moved away from the area following a protest by locals.                                     

On Tuesday evening, hours after the violence, villagers staged demonstration and demanded withdrawal of the BGB camp from the area.

Meanwhile, bodies of the victims were handed over to their family yesterday morning after autopsies.

A funeral procession of the deceased was held at the Botthali field of the upazila around 11:30am.

In the procession, several public representatives urged local administration not to harass the villagers in the name of investigation.

Speaking at the function, they claimed that the villagers didn't attack BGB rather it was BGB men who opened fire over a trivial matter.

They also rejected the press release issued by the BGB and said there was no issue of smuggling timber in the area.

Meanwhile, a three-member probe committee, headed by additional district magistrate Khandoker Mohammad Rezaul Karim, started its investigation into the incident.

"We already visited the spot and spoke with the villagers and some eyewitnesses," Karim said, adding that they were hoping to submit the report within next three days.

However, no case was filled in this connection till filing the report around 8:00pm last night, Shamsuddin Bhuiyan, officer-in-charge of Matiranga Police Station confirmed it to this newspaper.

Additional law enforcers have been deployed in the area to avert further untoward incident, said the district's SP.

Local administration gave Tk 20,000 to the families of each victim to complete their funeral, said Bibhisan Kanti Das, upazila nirbahi officer of Matiranga.

[Rezwan12]

BGB shot dead villagers, witnesses tell probe body

Staff Correspondent | Published: 01:23, Mar 05,2020

Villagers at Gazinagar of Matiranga in Khagrachari on Wednesday told an inquiry committee that the members of Border Guard Bangladesh opened fire on the villagers during an altercation over seizure of logs at their locality that left five people including a BGB soldier killed.

Hearing their versions, the government formed three-member inquiry committee chief additional district magistrate Khandker Muhammad Rizaul Karim asked the villagers to submit their written statements as evidences.

He said the BGB claimed that the villagers snatch away their arms and opened fired indiscriminately that led to the fatalities.

Rizaul Karim said they would collect the version of the BGB today and then would collect evidences from the physicians as part of their inquiry.

Home minister Assaduzzaman Khan, however, refrained from commenting over the shooting incident or whether home ministry would form additional committee over the killings.

After 32 hours of the incident, Khagrachari superintendent of police Mohammad Abul Aziz could not be certain whether the BGB’s claim of snatching away their weapons by the villagers and opening indiscriminate fire was true.

He on Wednesday night said that any case was to be filed. If none files any complaint, the police would file a case to identify the perpetrators, he said.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people joined funeral of the shooting victims and demanded justice.

Of the five killed, BGB headquarters officials named their soldier Shaon while local people identified the four others as Musa Miah, his sons Ahammad Ali and Ali Akbar, Ahammad’s father-in-law Mafiz Miah of Gazinagar in Matiranga.

In the statement, signed by BGB public relations officer M Shariful Islam, the border force said that local ‘civilians’ cordoned off a BGB team when they were trying to prevent smuggling of logs some 100 yards south of Gazinagar Bazar at about 11:45am.

Tension ensued between the patrol team and ‘civilians’ when the BGB fired one blank shot, and then a scuffle started between the two sides and some ‘civilians’ snatched away weapons of BGB personnel and opened fire indiscriminately, said the statement.

The bullets hit BGB sepoy Shaon and five others causing the deaths of five.

The National Human Rights Commission in a statement expressed concerns and said that the BGB could not avoid the responsibility of the shooting incident. It called on identifying the perpetrators. 

BGB headquarters director operation and spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Syed Ashiqur Rahman on Wednesday said that their committee was working.

Asked why they were trying to seize the logs which were not from any reserve forest, the BGB headquarters official said they were on the spot as the whole Chittagong Hill Tracts was under their special jurisdiction.  

 

https://www.newagebd.net/article/101300/bgb-shot-dead-villagers-witnesses-tell-probe-body

[Maisson]

4 killed in Cox's Bazar 'gunfights'

Published at 02:04 pm March 28th, 2020

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) presents the seized yaba pills and other illegal items before media on Saturday, March 28, 2020 Dhaka Tribune

The incidents took place in Hnila Union's Leda Churikhal area and Howaikang Union's Tulatuli area early Saturday.

At least four yaba dealers have been killed in separate gunfights with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Police in Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar district.

The incidents took place in Hnila Union's Leda Churikhal area and Howaikang Union's Tulatuli early Saturday.

In Hnila Union, three yaba dealers were killed in a reported gunfight with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) at Leda Churikhal area .

The identities of the deceased were not confirmed immediately, said Teknaf BGB 2 Captain Ltd Colonel Foisal Hasan.

Foisal said: "BGB challenged a gang of yaba dealers who were smuggling a large haul of yaba pills into Bangladesh from Myanmar on a boat near Leda Border Observation Post (BOP). Seeing BGB members, the yaba dealers opened fire on us, forcing BGB to fire back. Later, BGB recovered three people and took them to Teknaf Upazila Health Complex. As their condition deteriorated, the injured yaba dealers were shifted to Cox's Bazar Sadar hsopital where on duty doctors declared them dead "

BGB also recovered over 150,000 yaba pills, two locally made pistols, two cartridges, one empty shell, and a sharp weapon from the scene, he added. " A case will be filed at Teknaf police station."

In Howaikang Union, a yaba dealer was killed in a gunfight with a team of Teknaf police station at Tulatuli area.

The deceased identified as Musa Akbar, 36, was from the area, said Cox's Bazar Superintendent of Police (SP) ABM Masud Hossain.

Masud Hossain said that three police members sustained injuries and a case would be filed with Teknaf Police station.

Teknaf Upazila Health Complex doctor Zane Alom said: "BGB and police have brought four hit bodies here. The injured BGB and police members were released after administrating primary treatment."  

In the last four months, at least 28 people were killed in separate gunfights in the Cox's Bazar district.

Among the deceased, 17 were robbers and the rest were drug dealers, claimed by law enforcement agencies.

[Maisson]

Drug dealer killed in ‘gunfight’ with BGB in Cox's Bazar

Published at 01:18 pm April 19th, 2020
Teknaf-2 BGB members with recovered yaba pills and ammunition after the gunfight

When BGB officials retaliated, the suspected drug dealers fled the spot leaving Zafar’s bullet shot injured body behind

A suspected drug dealer was killed in a reported gunfight with Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) in Shah Porir Dwip’s Gholar Char area at Teknaf upazila, Cox’s Bazar early morning Sunday.

The deceased, Zafar Alam, 30, was a notorious yaba trader of the area, claims BGB.

According to BGB sources, a boat, which was coming from Myanmar’s Naf river, was trying to harbour on the Gholar Char area of the island. When challenged, the people on the boat started firing at the BGB members. When the BGB officials retaliated, the suspected drug dealers fled the spot leaving Zafar’s bullet shot injured body behind. 

“When we took Zafar to the Upazila Health Complex, the duty doctor declared him dead,” said Teknaf-2 BGB Commander Lt Col Mohammad Foisal Hasan Khan.

“We recovered around Tk2 lakh worth of the contraband drug yaba and a local pistol from the abandoned boat. We filed a case regarding the matter,” added the BGB official.