In the sprawling Rohingya refugee camps along Bangladesh’s southeastern border, a troubling shift in patterns of violence is taking place. While reported killings have declined in recent months, abductions, drug trafficking, and the unchecked activities of armed gangs are on the rise — fueling fear among refugees and mounting pressure on local communities.
The camps, home to more than 1.25 million Rohingya who fled Myanmar’s military crackdown, have long been a tinderbox of insecurity. Narrow lanes of bamboo shelters, poor lighting, and weak policing have created conditions where criminal groups thrive. Refugees, already traumatized by their displacement, now face fresh threats from within their own settlements.
Recent incidents underscore the volatility. In March, Mohammad Nur, the head majhi (community leader) of Camp-20 in Ukhiya’s Taznimarkhola, was hacked to death as he returned from prayers. In June, a Rohingya NGO worker, Syed Alam, was arrested on charges of slitting his wife’s throat in Camp-2. Just days later, in Teknaf’s Nayapara camp, a young refugee named Md. Alamgir was shot dead following a dispute.
Authorities say that targeted killings have decreased since the arrest of Ataullah Jununi, the elusive leader of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), along with ten of his close aides in March. Yet, the apparent lull in homicides masks a deeper problem: the proliferation of abductions, extortion, and drug smuggling.
Police records reveal the scale of the crisis. Between January and August 2025 alone, at least 250 criminal cases were filed in the camps — including 18 murder cases, 150 drug-related cases, 50 abductions, and 12 cases of sexual violence. Since the 2017 influx, nearly 287 murders have been recorded in the camps, highlighting the entrenched nature of the violence.
Behind these numbers lies a complex web of armed groups and power struggles. At least 10 organized gangs are currently active across the Ukhiya-Teknaf belt, down from 14 previously. Among them, the Abdul Hakim faction is regarded as the most dominant. These groups are involved not only in narcotics trafficking — particularly yaba tablets smuggled from Myanmar — but also in forced recruitment, extortion, and intimidation.
“Camp-based crimes remain a serious challenge. We are working in coordination with multiple security forces, and a special task force has been deployed to counter drug trafficking,” said Additional Superintendent of Police Md. Jashim Uddin Chowdhury.
The implications extend beyond the camps. Local Bangladeshis living in Ukhiya and Teknaf complain of rising insecurity, drug use, and economic disruption linked to camp-based networks. For them, the refugee crisis is no longer only a humanitarian issue but also a question of community safety.
International agencies, too, are sounding the alarm. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) report that while 1.25 million Rohingya are officially registered, as many as 150,000 new arrivals have crossed the border in the past 18 months. This silent influx has further strained Bangladesh’s already overburdened social, security, and economic systems.
For the Rohingya themselves, trapped between statelessness and crime, the sense of despair is palpable. “We escaped bullets in Myanmar, but here we live in fear every day,” said one refugee in Ukhiya, who requested anonymity.
As Bangladesh grapples with the dual challenge of humanitarian responsibility and security risks, the situation in the camps underscores a harsh reality: the longer repatriation to Myanmar remains stalled, the deeper the crisis of crime, fear, and instability will become.
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