The Rapid Action Battalion has brought an international human trafficking gang to light that traded a total of people abroad last year.
On Sunday, they arrested six members of the gang from Dhaka and Narayanganj, and rescued four young girls from their custody who were set to be trafficked abroad. Squadron Leader Md Rezaul Haque, commanding officer of Rab, revealed the information at a press conference at Siddhirganj here. Seventy passports, photocopies of passports, 50 air-tickets, photocopies of 50 visas, a CPU, a computer monitor, a microbus and Tk 1.
In primary interrogation, they admitted that they are active members of the organised international human trafficking gang. According to information gleaned from them, they traffic young girls, aged 15 to 25, with false promises of high salaries abroad. A huge number of agents, brokers, owners of foreign dance bars, travel agencies and dishonest people play their roles at different levels of the trafficking cycle.
The arrestees disclosed how they select a girl at initial level and influence her for going abroad. Generally, the agents target garment workers from lower-class broken families. They collect photos of the targets and send them to the owners of foreign bars. In the next stage, the bar owners or their representatives contact the girl and meet her at a restaurant or hotel in Dhaka for final selection. Then, they send the girl abroad within a short period after making necessary arrangements with help of travel agencies.
When the girl reaches her destination, some members of the gang receive her and keep her confined in a hotel or bar. The girl there is forced to engage in anti-social activities. However, members of Rab finally managed to arrest the gang members after monitoring their activities for a long period, said Rezaul. UNB photo. After selecting the target, the gang prepares her passport with help of passport brokers. They can be forced to work as call girls, or lured into prostitution.
