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COX’S BAZAR , Apr 21 2020 (IPS) – Last week more than 396 starving Rohingyas were rescued off the coast of Bangladesh after being at sea for two months. At least 32 had died on the boat after it failed to reached Malaysia. While it was unclear at the time of the breaking news whether the refugees were from Myanmar, where they are originally from, or Bangladesh — where more than a million Rohingya Muslims live as refugees after fleeing violence in Myanmar in 2017 — the attempt to reach Malaysia is not a new one.

For years, Rohingya refugees have boarded boats, organised by traffickers, in the hope of finding refuge in Southeast Asia. Usually they make the 2,500 km sea voyage during the dry season from November to March while the waters are calm.

While there are no official figures from local police about the number of trafficking victims, a local crime reporter who asked not to be named told IPS that the numbers rank in the thousands.

“Around 350 people are trafficked from Cox’s Bazar in every trip. And there are six to seven such trips per month. About 1,500 to 2,000 people, on average, are being trafficked to Malaysia every month,” he told IPS.