Trawler Capsize in Bay: Coast Guard sues 26 for human trafficking
Coast Guard yesterday filed a case accusing at least 26 men of human trafficking after a boat capsized in the Bay on Tuesday, killing 15 Rohingyas.
MS Islam, contingent commander of Coast Guard in St Martin's accused 19 named and 7-8 unnamed people in the case.
At least 15 Rohingyas were killed as a trawler sank in the Bay of Bengal near St Martin's Island in Teknaf upazila early Tuesday. They were trying to go to Malaysia illegally.
Seventy-two people were rescued alive and at least 50 other people onboard the boat remain missing.
Coast Guard and Navy personnel are searching for the missing people.
Eight of the accused have been arrested and sent to jail, and law enforcers are looking for the rest of the accused, police said.
Four of the arrestees were rescued after the boat sank, and police arrested the four others in different areas of Teknaf upazila.
A Cox's Bazar court recorded their statement and sent them to jail yesterday evening.
The traffickers gathered the Rohingyas at Noakhali Para of Teknaf on Monday night and boarded them on an engine boat to send them to Malaysia illegally.
Of the 19 named accused, 14 are residents of Teknaf, two are of Ramu, three are of Noakhali district, according to the case statement.
Bodies of the 15 Rohingyas will be handed to their relatives after autopsies, police said.
The rescued Rohingyas are in custody, said Pradip Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station.
A Rohingya man was rescued yesterday morning on the St. Martin's beach, said Naim-Ul-Haque, Coast Guard commander on the island.
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