A team of Rab-4 led by Golam Mostafa freed six girls from a flat in Baridhara DOHS (Defence Officers' Housing Society) in a pre-dawn raid and nabbed Abu Baker and GM Haider for their alleged involvement in abducting the adolescents, sources said.

Being informed by the pair, the elite anti-crime force raided other parts of the city and released eight more girls and arrested Shajahan alias Nana Bhai, Faruq Hossain, Samrat Mian, Shahin Mian, Moshiur Rahman, Mohammad Rana, Mohammad Sumon, Mohammad Masud and Mohammad Lokman, they added.

The arrestees are members of an organised racket involved in child trafficking. The gang lured girls from different parts of the country with promises of lucrative jobs in the capital, Rab sources said.

The gang forcibly engaged the victims in anti-social activities in city's different apartments and also smuggled out many girls from the country, they added.

Rab officials were quizzing the arrestees to trace the mastermind behind the trafficking gang.