Eighty-five Bangladesh citizens returned home from Myanmar prisons while 123 members of Myanmar security forces, including Border Guard Police and army, were sent back from Cox鈥檚 Bazar on Sunday.
Myanmar Naval Ship UMS Chin Dwin carried the Bangladeshis and anchored at the Bangladesh coast to take back the members of the Myanmar defence forces who fled the armed conflict in the Rakhine state to Bangladesh, according to officials concerned.
The officials and family members said that those imprisoned in Myanmar were mostly detained by Myanmar forces while they were fishing in the bay.
The ship, which left for Bangladesh on Saturday from the Sittwe port in Rakhine of Myanmar, reached Cox鈥檚 Bazar carrying the Bangladeshi returnees early Sunday.
Cox鈥檚 Bazar additional district magistrate Ataul Gani Osmani confirmed the matter.
He said that 108 BGP and 15 army personnel were sent back, while 85 Bangladesh nationals, who were imprisoned for a long time in Myanmar, were returned to Bangladesh.
Relatives receiving them were seen overwhelmed with joy.
Farid Ullah, a member of Teknaf鈥檚 Baharchhara union parishad Ward-7, said that about 10 months ago five fishermen from his area went missing.聽
鈥楩ifteen days after they had gone missing we had news that they were held in a Myanmar prison. After sending required documents we were informed yesterday that they were being sent back,鈥� he said.
In the last 15 months, the Bangladesh embassy in Myanmar coordinated the return of 332 Bangladesh nationals.聽
On June 9, total 45 Bangladeshis returned home from Myanmar and 134 BGP and army personnel聽 were sent back to Myanmar.
On April 25, another 173 Bangladeshis returned home, while the same day 288 Myanmar Border Guard Police and army personnel were sent back.
Besides, Bangladesh also sent back 330 BGP, army and customs officials who took shelter in Bangladesh on February 15.
