Bangladesh has arrested on terrorism charges a prominent Buddhist whose charity operates in Myanmar’s strife-torn Rakhine state, police said Wednesday.

Police said U Shit Maung, 67, was detained as he tried to board a flight to Myanmar at Dhaka’s international airport last week.

Police only revealed Wednesday that Maung, who heads the Rakhaing Development Foundation, had been detained after allegedly suspicious images were found on his laptop.

“The RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) arrested him over anti-terrorism charges last week from the airport and handed him to us,” airport police chief Noor-e-Azam Mia told AFP, without elaborating on the charges.

Violence in Rakhine, likened by the United Nations to ethnic cleansing, has driven more than 600,000 Muslim Rohingya from Buddhist-majority Myanmar into Bangladesh since August.

Many displaced Muslims in Bangladesh say the army and Buddhist mobs massacred or raped civilians and razed villages.

Maung’s sister Ayethein Rakhaing said her brother, whose wife lives in Myanmar, was innocent and described the charges against him as false.

“He works for both the Muslims and Buddhists. He works there (Rakhine) for peace,” said Rakhaing, a former lawmaker from the ruling Awami League.

His wife Mra Raza Linn was a prominent rebel leader turned peace activist in Myanmar, according to Maung’s family.

“She is known to Aung San Suu Kyi,” a family member told AFP by phone, referring to Myanmar’s de facto leader and Nobel peace prize laureate.

The relative added Linn heads a women’s group in Rakhine and is a senior member of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), while she used to be a guerilla leader.

The ALP has been anti-Rohingya in recent years, a Bangladesh security official told AFP.

The Rohingya refugee crisis has prompted an outpouring of sympathy in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, but has also fuelled tensions with the small population of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists living there.

Some refugees living in overcrowded camps have alleged that Bangladeshi Buddhists, known locally as Moghs, have joined militias perpetrating atrocities across the border in Rakhine.

“My brother was killed by Bangladeshi Moghs,” Rohingya refugee Amirul Islam, who fled from Myanmar, told AFP at a camp in Cox’s Bazar district.

Bangladesh police have bolstered security at Buddhist temples near the border, fearing local hostility among the Rohingya could boil over into reprisal attacks.

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs Puan Maharani lauded the achievements of the Indonesian badminton team who won two gold and two silvers medals at the International Junior Badminton Tournament 2017 at the Amongrogo sports stadium in Yogyakarta.

During the international tournament, which ended on Sunday, Gregoria Mariska won a gold medal in the women’s singles category. The Indonesian mixed doubles team of Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas also won gold.

Mixed doubles pair Rehan Naufal and Siti Fadia and women’s doubles team Jauza Fadila Sugiarto and Ribka Sugiarto snatched the silver medals for Indonesia.

“The achievements of our young badminton players will raise our self-confidence, that in the future Indonesians will still be placed among nations whose athletes are known to be great achievers in the badminton field,” Puan said.

She congratulated the Indonesian junior badminton team who had been working hard in Yogyakarta with the help of their trainers and managers.

“We are proud of their achievements,” she said, giving special thanks to the double women’s team.

“I think it has been a long time since Indonesia achieved a gold medal in the women’s category. I do hope [the women athletes] will continue to get adequate training and supervision as well as opportunities to play in international tournaments.”

During the international tournament, three gold medals were won by players from three different countries — Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

Puan said she was pleased to see the distribution of gold medals in the tournament, whereby new badminton champions were emerging from countries like Thailand and Japan, in a scene that had largely been dominated by South Korea and China.

“Through the mental strength of our youngsters in Yogyakarta, we are optimistic we will be much stronger in the future,” Puan said, adding that she would work closely with Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi to organise more junior badminton tournaments across Indonesia to uncover new talent.

The Army has set up a kitchen at its headquarters on Ratchadamnoen Road to provide 50,000 plates of foods to mourners and 500 more to officials each day.

The kitchen is being operated by the Army’s Quartermaster Department with co-operation from private firms. The Army has also set up 23 tents for mourners to rest and eat, and toilet facilities have also been provided.

A giant LED display was also set up for mourners to watch the royal ceremonies.

An official with the department said soldiers and volunteers would cook about 50,000 plates of foods for officials and mourners – 10,000 plates for breakfast, and 20,000 for lunch and dinner each.

For breakfast, the kitchen provided boiled rice with chicken and rice topped with a chicken stew.

For lunch, chefs prepared rice with spicy minced pork and chicken with a boiled egg.

For dinner, mourners were treated to rice with chicken curry or rice with chicken fried with basil and boiled sausages.

The Army department prepared 4,700kg of chicken and pork, 900kg of sausages and 20,000 eggs.

BANGKOK – Stickers allowing mourners to pass through to the inner area of Bangkok’s Sanam Luang ceremonial grounds to observe the Royal Cremation ceremonies for HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej have become collector’s items for many people in memory of the beloved monarch.

Bearing each person’s registration number, the stickers – which come in different designs depending on which screening point people pass through – have become souvenirs for people attending the historic event.

“I intend to keep this sticker and will laminate it because it identifies that I, once in my life and for the last time, am at this place at this time in the last days of the farewell to HM King Rama IX. I’m one of the loyal Thai subjects that has a chance to be here,” said Theerayuth Kanchanaphetch, 39.

“Each visitor passing through a screening point will get a sticker placed on his or her left chest. Mine is number 15458,” he said.

Theerayuth came from Songkhla’s Hat Yai district early Tuesday morning and spent the night camping under Phra Pinklao Bridge amid the rain. He woke at 3am to wait in a queue to access a visitor-screening point – two hours before the checkpoint was opened, then passed into the inner area where he sat in front of the National Museum at 7am.

Nakhon Si Thammarat resident Sathaporn Meelai, 43, said she and her daughter had arrived in Bangkok at noon on Tuesday and stayed overnight under Phra Pinklao Bridge.

She was given a sticker with the number 14899 while her daughter received number 14898. After passing into the area, she carefully peeled off the sticker and attached it to her Thai national ID card as she was afraid she would lose it.

“I will keep this sticker for the rest of my life as a souvenir of my attendance at the Royal Cremation ceremonies for HM the late King,” she said.

Rayong resident Aree Tothong, 70, who also stayed under the bridge amid the downpour on Tuesday night, said she was determined to attend the ceremonies after three previous three trips to pay respects to HM the late King’s Royal Urn inside the Grand Palace’s Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime event that I must attend. I had to pin my sticker number 14155 on to my chest to ensure it wouldn’t go missing. I intend to keep this item for the rest of my life to remember HM the late King. I want to keep it so my children and grandchildren know that I was born in the reign of King Rama IX and I live through two reigns,” she said.

Bangkok – The spectacular send-off for Thailand’s late King Bhumibol Adulyadej began Thursday with an elaborate collage of Buddhist rituals and palace protocol, ahead of his cremation at the gilded pyre erected in Bangkok’s historic heart.

The $90 million ceremony is a final act of devotion to the “father” of the nation, who died last year aged 88.

Here are a few things to know about the funeral of a king revered as a demi-god, and who reigned for seven decades.

The site

At the heart of the cremation complex is a 50-metre (164-foot) high funeral pyre symbolising Mount Meru, the allegorical centre of the universe in Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cosmology.

The gold-painted structure is adorned with dozens of intricate sculptures of animals, deities and mythical creatures from Buddhist and Hindu lore.

Pride of place will go to sculptures of the late king’s beloved dogs.

Arranged symmetrically around the main tower are eight smaller structures representing the mountains surrounding Meru.

The sprawling site, nearly a year in the making, is studded with references to the king’s welfare projects, including a small rice field and an irrigation wheel.

Bhumibol’s body is kept in a separate coffin to the symbolic Royal Urn, which will be carried up a ramp on a golden chariot to the pyre. Both the urn and coffin will be cremated, allowing his soul to pass into the afterlife according to Buddhist belief.

The ceremony

While sombre, the funeral is also a celebration as the late king ascends to heaven, with music and traditional dancers a key part of the ceremony.

The funeral formally began on Wednesday with a Thai Buddhist religious ritual led by Bhumibol’s only son King Maha Vajiralongkorn, known as Rama X. His father was Rama IX of the Chakri dynasty.

On Thursday the king joined monks in a remarkable ceremony, aided by palace officials shuffling on their knees to take the Royal Urn down for a procession from the Grand Palace to the cremation site.

A gun salute also rang out.

On its way to the cremation site it will pass tens of thousands of black-clad mourners who are expected to bow and prostrate where possible.

A bank of monks will lead Buddhist prayers throughout the day-long ritual.

As dusk falls, the king and other royals will lead the laying of sandalwood flowers at the urn.

The cremation itself will take place at 10:00 pm (1500 GMT) when Rama X will light the pyre.

Three days of ceremonies to remove royal relics from the ashes will follow. The ashes will be taken to the Grand Palace while the relics will be enshrined in two temples.

The guest list

The funeral procession will be headed by the king, Rama X, with his sister Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn leading the rest of the royal family.

It is not clear how much of a role Bhumibol’s wife Queen Sirikit will play, as she has been in ill health for years.

Power players from Thailand’s junta and the all-important privy council will also be prominent in the procession.

Royals and dignitaries from over 40 countries will attend the cremation, including Britain’s Prince Andrew, Japan’s Prince Akishino and Princess Akishino, Queen Maxima from the Netherlands, the King and Queen of Bhutan and US Secretary of Defence James Mattis.

Officials estimate that some 250,000 Thais will crush into the surrounding roads, while television will relay blanket coverage of the event.

The meticulously planned funeral comes with a long list of guidelines for attendees in a country where all things royal are tightly controlled.

Photographers are prohibited from taking direct shots of the king, while male journalists have been ordered to shave their beards and moustaches.

Tourists affected?

Roads across Bangkok’s historic centre, including the Grand Palace, will be shut.

Tourists are not expected to wear black like most Thais have done since the king’s death in October 2016, but visitors have been asked to dress and behave “respectfully”.

Bangkok’s racy strips of go-go bars have closed for the cremation, while nightlife will be toned down throughout the funeral period.

Many businesses – including the ubiquitous 7/11 stores – will close for much of the cremation day.