Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) said on Friday they arrested six members of a human trafficking gang foiling their bid to smuggle three young women out to India with promises of lucrative jobs. The arrests were made at Siddhirganj upazila in Narayanganj district. The arrestees were identified as Jhuma Akter, 28, Sharmin Akter, 29, Minara Rina, 35, Rabeya Akter, 27, Komly Khatun, 32, and Shahjamal, 40. The Rab also recovered several mobile phone sets and debit cards of the targeted women from the possession of the arrestees during the drive, Lieutenant Colonel Tanvir Mahmud Pasha, captain of the Rab-11 told a press conference in the district on Friday noon. The human traffickers took a woman to Benapole boarder to try to take her to neighbouring India. She was promised a job at a beauty parlour across the border with a handsome salary. Realising the trap the woman somehow escaped from the alleged traffickers and returned to Narayanganj where she lodged a written complaint against them at the headquarters of the Rab-11 on Thursday afternoon. Read: International human trafficking gang member held in Meherpur As per the complaint, the elite force conducted a drive in Mijmiji Batanparra area of the upazila and arrested the human traffickers. Rab rescued another two women from their custody, he said. The Rab officer said the traffickers usually target poor women alluring them with jobs and better life abroad.   A case related to the incident was filed at the local police station and the arrestees were sent to a court, he added.

A human trafficking gang has asked for Tk 8.5 lakh each for sparing the lives of four illegal Italy immigration seeker men from Habiganj.  The missing men were identified as MD Sajanur Rahman, 35, son of Abdul Mukit Khan from Paschimbagh village in Ajmiriganj upazila, Afzal, son of Sajlu Mia from the same village, Md Nasir Mia,20, son of Sekular Mia, and Ujjal, 27, son of safar Ali from noabad area in Habiganj city, according to their families.  The gang asked for the money over phone calls on Wednesday and said they would dump their bodies in the Mediterranean Sea if they don’t get it by Monday, said the family members of the hostage immigration seekers.  Read: 9 killed in Gopalganj road crash “Sajanur left for Italy on February last year and reached Benghazi in Libya with the help of a broker named Marutza but he sold my brother to another broker named Sabu Mia But Sajanur got caught by Coast Guards there and had to pay Tk 3 lakh as fine. Later another broker named Taimur who used to live in Noabad in Habiganj city took the responsibility of sending him to Italy,” said Md Asiur Rahman, a primary school teacher and brother of Sajanur Rahman.  Asiur Rahman said different brokers have so far taken around Tk 12 lakh from them and now they are worried how they will pay the ransom money.  “My brother took up the illegal way to change the economic condition of family only. My brother told on phone the traffickers have kept nine people from Habiganj in a boat at Mediterranean Sea and were torturing them.” Said Asiur Rahman.  Martuza Hasan, Chairman of Ajmiriganj Upazila Parishad confirmed his relative Sajanur’s family received calls from some traffickers demanding money. “But I have no idea about other people who were threatened, “he said.  Afzal’s father Sazlu Mia, Nasir’s father Sekular Mia and Ujjal’s father-in-law Md Faruq Mia claimed all of them were kept hostage by a gang of broker which is led by a local broker named Taimur Mia. They said they are all too poor to pay the ransom money and fearing their relatives will be killed soon.  Meanwhile Taimur’s wife claimed she has no idea about such incident and she has no contact with her husband for a long time. 

Rab have rescued a teenage girl who was trafficked from Chattogram to Dhaka’s Fakirapul area and arrested three people in this connection, officials said on Friday. The girl was rescued on Wednesday  night from a parked bus of Hanif enterprise at Fakirapul.On the basis of the information given by her, a Rab team on Friday night arrested three traffickers from the capital’s Fakirapul and Gabtali areas. Read: Ringleader of human trafficking syndicate among 8 held in city The arrestees are Nayem, 22, son of Osman of Sukhan Dighi village in Chapainawabganj’s Gomstapur, Asaduzzaman Nur, 26, son of Wazed Mandal of Jayantipur village in Rangpur’s Pirganj and Fatema Begum, 30, daughter of Samchu Mia of Cumilla’s Dhola village, confirmed RAB-7 senior assistant director (Media) Flight Lieutenant Niaz Mohammad Chapal. RAB sources said, on Tuesday  RAB-7 received a complaint lodged by Md. Alam of Fatikchhari’s Bhujpur area regarding the disappearance of his daughter. A man named Alam lodged a written complaint about the disappearance of his daughter at Chattogram’s Hathazari police station. According to the father’s statement, the girl left her house to work as a maid at a house in Hathazari but did not return. Rab official Flight Lieutenant Niaz said that human traffickers have been trafficking underage girls for the lure of money and marriage. Read: Trafficked to India 2 years ago 12 teenage girls return home from jail He said the detainees confessed to trafficking the girl from Chattogram to Dhaka. They are active members of the human trafficking ring and have long been involved in trafficking in underage girls, taking advantage of their poverty and helplessness. A case has been filed against them, he said.

Nineteen Bangladeshis, including 17 women, returned home on Sunday night after languishing in Indian prison for two years.

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will soon issue a red notice through Interpol to bring back the human traffickers involved in the killing 26 Bangladeshi migrant workers in Libyan desert town Mezda.

Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN Ambassador Rabab Fatima has underscored the need to have close partnership at the local, bilateral, regional and international levels to deal with the trans-border and trans-national nature of the crime like trafficking. "Bangladesh has a zero tolerance policy against trafficking in persons", she said while speaking at the UN High Level Virtual Event for the Observance of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons (TIP) on Thursday.

Police arrested a member of a international human trafficker gang from Bhalodanga village Gangi upazila early Monday.

A court here on Wednesday placed two suspected human traffickers on a 4-day remand each in a case over trafficking Bangladeshi people to Libya.

Three separate cases were filed against 14 people in connection with the deaths of 26 Bangladeshi nationals, who were killed in a gun attack in Libya on Thursday, in Madaripur district.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday expressed deep concerned over the killing of 30 migrant workers, including 26  Bangladeshi nationals, in Libya reportedly by some human traffickers.