The Border Guard Police (; abbreviated BGP) are a department of

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Myanmar Police Force The Myanmar Police Force (), formerly the People's Police Force (), is the law enforcement agency of Myanmar. It was established in 1964 as an independent department under the Ministry of Home Affairs. History The Police Force in Myanmar h ...

Duties

The BGP is specialised in border control, counterinsurgency, crowd control and security checkpoints in border areas and insurgent areas, gathering intelligence in local areas to counterinsurgency and counter perpetrators in border areas, internal security, law enforcement in border areas and insurgency areas, and protecting agency assets in risky areas. In addition to border security, the BGP are also responsible for manning checkpoints and documenting the movement of Rohingyas within Rakhine State.

Operation

The BGP operate in northern

Rakhine State Rakhine State ( ; , ; ), formerly known as Arakan State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Re ...

and are especially active along the

Bangladesh–Myanmar border The Bangladesh–Myanmar border is the international border between the countries of Bangladesh and Myanmar (formerly ''Burma''). The border stretches , from the tripoint with India in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south. About of the bor ...

, due to the ongoing exodus of

Rohingya people The Rohingya people (; ; ) are a stateless nation, stateless Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who predominantly follow Islam from Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Ban ...

fleeing

sectarian violence Sectarian violence or sectarian strife is a form of communal violence which is inspired by sectarianism, that is, discrimination, hatred or prejudice between different sects of a particular mode of an ideology or different sects of a religion wi ...

in Myanmar.

Incidents

In 2017, insurgents of the

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA; ), formerly known as Harakah al-Yaqin (), is a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to a December 2016 report by the International Crisis Group, it is led by ...

have repeatedly attacked BGP posts along the Bangladesh–Myanmar border in revenge for the BGP's mistreatment of the Rohingya. In 2024, at least 264 Border Guard Police (BGP) and Myanmar Army fled to

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

amid reports of heavy gunfights between the government troops and the

Arakan Army The Arakan Army (; Abbreviation, abbreviated AA), sometimes referred to as the Arakha Army is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnic-List of insurgent groups in Myanmar, armed organisation based in Rakhine State (Arakan). Founded in April 2009, the Ara ...

Myanmar civil war Myanmar has been embroiled in armed conflict since 1948, when the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based, with ethnic armed organisations fighting Myanmar's arm ...

References

{{authority control Paramilitary organisations based in Myanmar Law enforcement in Myanmar Military of Myanmar Political organizations established in 2014 2014 establishments in Myanmar