Murdered in Libya: Cops to seek Interpol help to nab traffickers

Police suspect as many as 120 people were involved in the trafficking of 38 Bangladeshis -- of whom 26 were killed by criminals on May 28 -- to Libya in the last two years.

Police also believe that they all have connections with transnational human trafficking syndicates.

These traffickers have been operating mainly in nine districts, but they have agents in other districts, said police.

They initially send the aspiring migrants somewhere out of the country -- mostly in the UAE or India -- by arranging tourist or on arrival visas and then to Libya via Jordan's capital Amman. International members in the syndicates cooperate in the whole process.

Police found that members of these syndicates belong to different nationalities. 

A Bangladeshi man living in Libya nicknamed "Goodluck Bhai" was found to be a linchpin of one of the syndicates.

For the whole journey, the traffickers used to collect a hefty sum of around Tk 8-9 lakh from each migrant.

Law Enforcers has come up with the findings following the recent arrests of 39 people who were allegedly involved in the trafficking of the 26 victims.

Of them, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested around 22 people, Rab arrested around 11 people and Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested six people till date.

"We have got some information about the operation of some of these syndicates," said Sarwar-Bin-Quasem, legal and media wing director of Rab headquarters.

"Many of the members are in different countries, so we may seek Interpol's assistance to trace the traffickers and take action against them," he said.

According to Police Headquarters (PHQ) statement, around 22 cases were filed across the country regarding the trafficking of the 38 Bangladeshis.

CID is investigating 15 of the cases. Contacted, Syeda Jannat Ara, special superintendent of CID told this newspaper on Thursday that they got names of some 120 people after analysing the complaints and first information reports filed by the relatives of the victims who were killed in Libya.

Apart from them, CID teams got dozens of more names, she said, adding that it might take some time to tell the exact number of people involved.

Golam Mostofa Rashel, deputy commissioner of DB police, said police have already got names of some Bangladeshi staying in the UAE, Libya and Amman, said.

Meanwhile, CID claimed to have discovered another route of human trafficking after arresting five traffickers from Dhaka on Wednesday.

The arrestees are Abdul Jalil, Rubel Hossain, Rubel Ahmed, Kutub Uddin and Parvez Ahmed.

According to CID officials, the traffickers first send job seekers to India on tourist visas. And then they send the victims to Spain via the UAE, Algeria and Morocco.