Two cargo ships rescued from the Arakan Army have arrived at Teknaf Port.
The Arakan Army, an armed rebel group in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, has released a cargo ship that it had seized four days ago. The two ships, which were freed from the Arakan Army’s control, arrived at the Teknaf land port on the Naf River at around 11 am yesterday.
Earlier, on January 16 and 17, three ships were carrying goods from Myanmar’s junta-ruled capital Yangon to the Teknaf land port as part of the border trade between the two countries. When the ships reached near Maungdaw township on the Naf River, the Arakan Army stopped them. At the same time, however, the Arakan Army allowed another ship loaded with Myanmar timber from the Maungdaw area, which is under the control of the Arakan Army, to arrive at the Teknaf land port. In this regard, Ehteshamul Haque Bahadur, General Secretary of the Clearing and Forwarding (C&F) Agents Association of Teknaf Land Port, said on Monday, “The Arakan Army detained three cargo ships carrying goods from Yangon for the last four days and released them yesterday morning. However, two of the ships have reached the Teknaf Land Port jetty, but the other one has not arrived yet.” He said that the cargo ships contain about 50,000 bags of goods worth at least Tk 400 million for Bangladeshi traders. The release of the Arakan Army ships after four days has brought some relief to the importers and traders. He also said that after the last one and a half months of closure, large consignments of goods have arrived at Teknaf Port from Myanmar. The government will get a huge amount of revenue from the imported goods.
In this regard, Jasim Uddin Chowdhury, General Manager of United Land Port Limited, the company operating the Teknaf Land Port, said, “Two cargo ships carrying goods have arrived at the port jetty. We have not received any news of another ship yet.’ He said that a lot of revenue will be generated from the goods of these large ships coming from Myanmar. The goods loaded on the ships include betel nuts, dried fish, shoes and sandals, plums, tamarind and various pickles.
It is worth noting that the Arakan Army captured Maungdaw Township in Rakhine State on December 8 last year during the ongoing civil war in Myanmar. Since then, no cargo ship has arrived at the port. The last cargo ship from Myanmar arrived at Teknaf land port on December 3.
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