DHAKA, 30 December 2020, (TON): Four Bangladesh navy ships carrying at least 1,800 Rohingya refugees on Tuesday left the Chattogram port for Bhashan Char island in the Bay of Bengal.

Navy Commodore Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury said at least 1,804 Rohingya were being moved in ships to Bhasan Char. “We are ready to receive the new arrivals,” he said by telephone from the island.

The Rohingya carried bags of belongings, toys and chickens and took selfies with each other as they sat on wooden benches during the three hour trip from Chattogram to Bhashan Char.

Although, rights activists expressed new doubts about the transfers. They said some Rohingya had their shanty homes in the camps on the Myanmar border padlocked so they had no choice.

But, with Bangladesh now struggling to find a long-term solution to the Rohingya exodus, government refugee officials said there were better living facilities and better security for the Rohingya in Bhashan Char.

“They are very eager to go to Bhashan Char because they have heard from their relatives, those who have gone to Bhashan Char, that it is an excellent place,” Momen said.

Some Rohingya in the latest group said they were going willingly. “The camp is a difficult and overcrowded place to live and move around,” Shafi Alam said on the navy ship.

Grandmother Morium Khatun, 55, said she was going to escape drug-related crimes that resulted killings of many.

“I am looking for peace of mind. The refugee camp is not a place for that,” she said.

More than 700,000 Rohingya were sheltered in camps in Bangladesh in 2017 following a dreadful Myanmar’s military crackdown that UN said could be genocide. Several attempts at repatriation of the Rohingya to Myanmar have failed after the refugees said they were too fearful of further violence to return.