Monday, 30 December, 2024
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) thwarted a human trafficking operation early Monday, rescuing 31 people, including 22 children, from a remote hilly area in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar. The victims were being trafficked to Malaysia, according to authorities.
Among those rescued, 26 were Rohingyas from refugee camps, and five were Bangladeshi nationals, said Devjit Pal, Senior Assistant Director (Law & Media) of RAB-15.
RAB also apprehended two members of the trafficking network during the operation. The suspects were identified as Md. Anwar, 44, of Palankhali union, and Mohammad Aiyub, 36, of Teknaf sadar union.
The traffickers had confined the victims in a hideout atop a hill in the Kachchhapia area, where they were awaiting transport to Malaysia.
One of the rescued victims, Ekhlas Mia, provided critical information that led to the operation. He and several others were abducted from the Kachchhapia sea beach on November 12 by the traffickers, who demanded a ransom of Tk 2 lakh from Ekhlas's family.
When his family failed to pay, the traffickers forced Ekhlas and others onto a fishing trawler to transport them to Malaysia. Ekhlas managed to escape and alerted RAB-15, enabling the rescue operation.
The hideout revealed horrific conditions where the victims were held. Many of them, especially children, appeared malnourished and traumatized, according to RAB officials.
This incident highlights the growing menace of human trafficking in the Teknaf area, which serves as a major transit point for trafficking operations targeting vulnerable populations, including Rohingya refugees.
Bangladesh remains a hotspot for human trafficking, with networks exploiting economic hardship and the desperation of displaced communities. Traffickers often lure victims with false promises of jobs abroad, only to trap them in dangerous and exploitative conditions.
RAB-15 has filed a case with Teknaf Police Station under the Anti-Human Trafficking Act. Authorities are working to dismantle the trafficking network and trace other victims who may still be in captivity.
This rescue operation underscores the urgent need for stronger border control, community vigilance, and coordinated efforts to combat human trafficking in the region.
More than one million Rohingya refugees are living in squalid refugee camps in the southern district of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, most of whom fled the brutal violence and persecution in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017, which is now the subject of a UN genocide probe.
But many of these Rohingya refugees are risking their lives to cross the sea to escape hunger, kidnapping and violence inside the makeshift camps in Bangladesh.
Police said that many of the Rohingya refugees live in Indonesia and Malaysia, and they try to take their family members themselves from the camps of Cox’s Bazar, and the sea route is the only option for them. Some are trying to take their chosen women for marriage to these countries.
Rohingya refugees inside the camps said that many Rohingya women were tortured back in 2017 in Myanmar and they are still facing harassment inside the camps in Bangladesh. Many families have five to eight members living in small shacks measuring some 10 by 15 feet.
Most of these women who are victims of trafficking are aged between 15-35. They are not only going with the hope of marriage, but many women also want to go there to earn a living as they do not have the right to work outside the camp.
4o
Comments
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) thwarted a human trafficking operation early Monday, rescuing 31 people, including 22 children, from a remote hilly area in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar. The victims were being trafficked to Malaysia, according to authorities.
Among those rescued, 26 were Rohingyas from refugee camps, and five were Bangladeshi nationals, said Devjit Pal, Senior Assistant Director (Law & Media) of RAB-15.
RAB also apprehended two members of the trafficking network during the operation. The suspects were identified as Md. Anwar, 44, of Palankhali union, and Mohammad Aiyub, 36, of Teknaf sadar union.
The traffickers had confined the victims in a hideout atop a hill in the Kachchhapia area, where they were awaiting transport to Malaysia.
One of the rescued victims, Ekhlas Mia, provided critical information that led to the operation. He and several others were abducted from the Kachchhapia sea beach on November 12 by the traffickers, who demanded a ransom of Tk 2 lakh from Ekhlas's family.
When his family failed to pay, the traffickers forced Ekhlas and others onto a fishing trawler to transport them to Malaysia. Ekhlas managed to escape and alerted RAB-15, enabling the rescue operation.
The hideout revealed horrific conditions where the victims were held. Many of them, especially children, appeared malnourished and traumatized, according to RAB officials.
This incident highlights the growing menace of human trafficking in the Teknaf area, which serves as a major transit point for trafficking operations targeting vulnerable populations, including Rohingya refugees.
Bangladesh remains a hotspot for human trafficking, with networks exploiting economic hardship and the desperation of displaced communities. Traffickers often lure victims with false promises of jobs abroad, only to trap them in dangerous and exploitative conditions.
RAB-15 has filed a case with Teknaf Police Station under the Anti-Human Trafficking Act. Authorities are working to dismantle the trafficking network and trace other victims who may still be in captivity.
This rescue operation underscores the urgent need for stronger border control, community vigilance, and coordinated efforts to combat human trafficking in the region.
More than one million Rohingya refugees are living in squalid refugee camps in the southern district of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, most of whom fled the brutal violence and persecution in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017, which is now the subject of a UN genocide probe.
But many of these Rohingya refugees are risking their lives to cross the sea to escape hunger, kidnapping and violence inside the makeshift camps in Bangladesh.
Police said that many of the Rohingya refugees live in Indonesia and Malaysia, and they try to take their family members themselves from the camps of Cox’s Bazar, and the sea route is the only option for them. Some are trying to take their chosen women for marriage to these countries.
Rohingya refugees inside the camps said that many Rohingya women were tortured back in 2017 in Myanmar and they are still facing harassment inside the camps in Bangladesh. Many families have five to eight members living in small shacks measuring some 10 by 15 feet.
Most of these women who are victims of trafficking are aged between 15-35. They are not only going with the hope of marriage, but many women also want to go there to earn a living as they do not have the right to work outside the camp.
4o
Comments
