Play store
Seventeen men allegedly being held for trafficking to Malaysia by sea were rescued in a raid in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar, on Friday, according to Special Response Battalion-15 (SRB-15).
The men were rescued from a house in the South Lombori area of Teknaf around 5:40pm on Friday, September 25, following a raid based on intelligence and information gathered through technology, SRB-15 officials said.
Assistant Superintendent of Police A. M. Faruk, assistant director (Law and Media) of SRB-15, confirmed the operation.
According to him, an organised human trafficking syndicate had allegedly confined several people from different areas of Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban at the house of one Md Ibrahim, with the intention of sending them to Malaysia illegally by sea.
Sensing the presence of law enforcement personnel, suspected members of the trafficking syndicate fled the scene during the raid.
The security personnel later searched the house in the presence of witnesses and rescued the 17 men unharmed.
The rescued individuals are residents of different upazilas of Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban districts.
SRB-15 said preliminary inquiries indicated that the trafficking syndicate had gathered the men for overseas trafficking for financial gain. They were also allegedly planning to subject them to forced labour after sending them abroad.
Following the operation, intelligence surveillance and efforts to identify and arrest the suspected traffickers who fled the scene, as well as unidentified members of the syndicate, have been intensified.
The 17 rescued men were handed over to Teknaf Model Police Station for further legal proceedings, SRB-15 said.