23 rescued in Ctg from traffickers
Police yesterday rescued 23 fortune seekers who were about to be trafficked to Malaysia from the port city and Banshkhali upazila.
Three alleged members of a human trafficking gang were also arrested.
Acting on a tip-off, a Chittagong Metropolitan Police team raided the city's Badurtala area around 2:30am and rescued 11 Malaysia-bound people from a building.
Nurul Alam, 35, Rani Palit, 23, and Aman Ullah, 24, were arrested from the building on human trafficking charges, said Mohiuddin Mahmud, officer-in-charge of Panchlaish Police Station.
The victims are from Brahmanbaria, Sherpur, Habiganj, Satkhira and Jhenidah.
One of the victims, Ataur Rahman, 22, of Brahmanbaria, said a broker, Aman Ullah, had contacted him over the phone a few days ago and offered him a job in Malaysia in exchange for Tk 2 lakh.
“I agreed as Aman said I need to pay him the money only after reaching Malaysia”, said Ataur, who came to Chittagong on Friday on Aman's instruction.
Another police official said the rescued victims were scheduled to leave for Malaysia from Firingi Bazar of Chittagong.
During preliminary interrogation, the arrestees confessed to their involvement in human trafficking, said Jahid, second officer of the police station.
A case was filed.
In another drive around 1:30am, Banshkhali police rescued 12 other fortune seekers from two houses in Khudukkhali village.
"They were kept there to be trafficked to Malaysia," said Swapan Kumar Mazumdar, officer-in-charge of Banshkhali Police Station. No one was detained, he said.
Three of the 12 rescued victims were from Cox's Bazar, while the others from Sylhet and Narsingdi, the police official added.
Each of them had given Tk one lakh to Tk 1.6 lakh to the brokers to go to Malaysia, the police said, quoting the victims.
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