Of the 26 people who voluntarily returned to Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township from Bangladesh on Wednesday (Sept 25), Myanmer authorities arrested and are investigating one person on suspicion of being a member of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), reports The Irrawaddy.

U Soe Aung, the district administrator of Maungdaw district, Rakhine State, told local media the 26 people voluntarily returned to Maungdaw through Taungpyo Letwei.

He said, “26 people from three families entered Myanmar. We scrutinized them and found that one had a case opened against them under the Counterterrorism Law. So we detained the person. But we helped the others by giving them the necessary support to return.”

Myanmar media claims so far 270 people have voluntarily returned, independently of the bilateral agreement procedures established between Myanmar and Bangladesh. They either use boats or just walk cross the border.

However, these numbers remain hugely controversial.

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee told the Human Rights Council that Myanmar had “done nothing to dismantle the system of violence and persecution” against the Rohingya who live in the “same dire circumstances that they did, prior to the events of August 2017”.

Citing satellite imagery of destroyed Rohingya villages, Lee questioned Myanmar’s assertion that it rebuilt areas affected by the violence, given that there were “six military bases that have been built on the site of destroyed Rohingya villages”.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, titled "Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience."

Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.