BANGLADESH: Myanmar Separatists Seek Ransom For Missing Tourist Guide In Bandarban

An armed separatist rebel group of Myanmar has demanded Tk50 lakh ransom for the two tourists and their guide who went missing in Bandarban on Saturday.

Yesterday, Passing Mro, brother of the missing guide Mangsai Mro, told the Dhaka Tribune that the local commander of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) had called him and asked for the ransom.

On Saturday afternoon, Munna, 35, and Zubayer, 28, both residents of Dhaka’s Mirpur, and their guide Mangsai went missing in the Raikkhong Pukur Para in Ruma upazila of the hill district.

Local sources said a 10-member armed team of ALP, clad in uniforms similar to that of the Bangladesh Army, abducted the three and took them to their den in the deep remote forest near the Myanmar border.

Citing intelligence sources, Ruma upazila Executive Officer Kazi Mohammad Chahel Tasturi said the two tourists and their guide are alive.

He, however, said he does not know anything about the ransom demand from the Myanmar separatists.

After the news of their alleged abduction came in the media, a joint security force launched a massive drive in the area to rescue them.

Munna and Zubayer went to the hill station on vacation on September 28. They took Mangsai with them as a guide for a trekking trip to the popular tourist spot Boga Lake.

Sources said that it is mandatory for tourists to report to the local police station before entering the Ruma area. But the two tourists did not do that; as a result, the local police station does not have information on them.

They were three of the five people abducted this week in Bandarban, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.

The other two are businessmen from Ali Kadam who were kidnapped by criminals. They, however, were released on Monday in exchange of a ransom.

Seeking anonymity, a local businessman said the spree of abductions has brought tourism in the district to a standstill as people are now scared to go there.