6 human traffickers arrested, 1 victim rescued from Mirpur: Rab

Members of Rapid Action Battalion yesterday arrested six members of a human trafficking gang and rescued a victim during a raid at the Darussalam area in the capital's Mirpur.

The arrestees are the leader of the gang Sekander Hossain of Dhaka, Asaduzzaman alias Akash and Bulbuli Begum of Jashore, Noor Mohammad alias Alif of Narsingdhi, Rubi Akhter and Koli Akhter of Netrakona, said a Rab press release today.

Rab made the arrests after the mother of the victim sought help from the elite force to rescue her daughter from the gang.

"The gang used to traffic young women to India and forced them into prostitution" said Rab- 4 CO Mozammel Haque.

The gang has trafficked around 100 girls and women to India in the last few years, claimed Rab.

During the raid, Rab rescued the victim and recovered some Indian Aadhaar cards, individual identification numbers issued by Indian government, PAN cards, mobile phones and documents relating to human trafficking, said the release.

During the primary interrogation, Rab found out that the arrestees Ruby and Koli were once trafficked to India and sold to a dance bar where they remained confined for four years.

They managed to flee back to Bangladesh but again were trying to go to India with the help of a fugitive accused Sohag alias Sagar who had asked them to arrange one more victim.

Rab said apart from the arrestees, the gang has five to seven accomplices in Bangladesh while several others including Dipak, Khoka alias Kangkai, Maria and Tamanna in India.

The gang used to traffic victims through the Benapole border in the night with fake documents.

Sekander who once worked as a make-up man in the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC), used to lure young women through social media into giving them jobs in the film industry.

Sohag had also worked as a make-up man in the film industry earlier, but he left the job and got involved in human trafficking, added the Rab release.