3 of a smuggling ring held in Dhaka

With the hope of a better future, Nurunnabi of Jashore went to the United Arab Emirates on August 20, but failed to get a good job there and decided to return home.

But he didn't have the money for plane fare, and taking advantage of the situation, an organised gang offered him a free plane ticket to Bangladesh in exchange for carrying some luggage for them.

The 22-year-old accepted the offer and received an air ticket to fly to Dhaka on October 9. The gang members in Bangladesh were informed that Nurunnabi's father, Syed Ali Mandal, 65, would come to receive him at the airport.

As Nurunnabi's father came to Hazrat Shahjajal International Airport on October 9 to receive his son, the gang members abducted him. They held him hostage at a house in the capital's Shantinagar to prevent Nurunnabi from getting away with the bag loaded with gold ornaments and other valuable goods worth around Tk 15 lakh.

Khandaker Al Moin, director of Rab's legal and media wing, disclosed this at a briefing yesterday at its media centre in Karwan Bazar, a day after they rescued Nurunnabi's father by raiding that Shantinagar house.

They also detained three local members of the gang from there and recovered gold ornaments, laptops, mobile phones, and foreign products, including cosmetics of different brands worth Tk 60 lakh.

Moin said they started an investigation after Syed Ali's son-in-law filed a general diary with Mirpur Model Police Station on October 10, failing to trace him.

Rab said the gang has 12-15 members in the country and overseas, with Abu Yusuf, an expatriate in a Middle Eastern country, being its ringleader. They have been smuggling valuable products into the country through different passengers by persuading them with free tickets.

They sell those items to unscrupulous traders at markets in Gulistan and Paltan.