Coast Guard arrests boat owner

Bangladesh Coast Guard (East Zone) yesterday stated to be looking for five human traffickers and to have arrested the owner of the boat being used in an attempt to take 36 men to Malaysia over the Bay of Bengal, saying he is a member of the gang.

The 36 were taken into police custody while five boatmen were detained after the coast guard intercepted a small engine-run boat near Chittagong Boat Club area in the Karnaphuli river on Monday night.

Arrested in his Kotwali house in Chittagong yesterday centring information given by the boatmen and the 36, Kabir Hossain, 60, refuted the allegations saying he had just rented the boat to one Yousuf Soudagar, who he says has a shop in Sadarghat.

Kabir was coordinating with the five during the trafficking attempt, stated coast guard officials at a press conference at their Karnaphuli headquarters.

The 36, arriving from around the country, were first kept in a Madarbari hotel and then  taken on the boat in an attempt to be shifted to a mother vessel, they added.

One of the 36, Md Shahinur, 30, a farmer from Jessore, told The Daily Star that his neighbour Alam, now in Malaysia, arranged the journey offering a job and he was to pay Tk 2.4 lakh on reaching there.

A similar description came from Abdul Aziz, 44, of Magura. The coast guard said a case was being filed with Patenga Police Station.