Police rescued three female victims of trafficking from the capital’s Jatrabari on Wednesday and arrested eight members of a human trafficking gang that reportedly forced Bangladeshi girls into prostitution.
The suspects, including an Indian citizen, were arrested by Detective Branch personnel in front of the Malancha Community Centre after they tried to force the victims to come with them to India.
The rescued are Amena Begum, 20, Runa Begum, 23 and Shanta, 16.
The arrestees are Indian citizen Shree Nikhil Dash, Abdul Mazid, Ariful Islam, Nabi Hossain, Anowar Hossain, Shree Gopal Mandal, and two women: Monika, and Chanchala Rani.
Addressing a press briefing at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Media Centre yesterday, DB Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam said the gang trafficked Bangladeshi girls across the border through Jessore and Satkhira, before Nikhil handed them over to Indian buyers who forced the girls into prostitution.
The gang mainly targeted young girls from poor families with false promises of high-paid jobs, Monirul said, adding that the arrested suspects had already confessed of trafficking around 20-25 girls so far.
During primary interrogation, the gang members said their Indian agents were located in Banga area of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, adding that Nikhil handled business across the border while Chanchala and Gopal controlled operations in Bangladesh. The other members of the gang lured women with false promises and collected Tk70,000 for each girl from Nikhil, who later sold the girls to Indian agents.
Runa, one of the rescued women, said Abdul Mazid, a tea stall owner and one of the arrestees, had promised her a job with good salary in India; but asked her to recruit more girls for the job.
As per Mazid’s directives, Runa brought Amena and Shanta near Jatrabari’s Malancha Community Centre; however, they became suspicious after the gang members failed to give them satisfying answers regarding the promised job. The gang members then threatened to kill the three women if they refused to accompany the traffickers to India.
Police, along with locals, came to the rescue of the three women after they screamed for help, said Runa.
Joint Commissioner Monirul said a case has been filed with Jatrabari police station in this regard, adding that search was on for other members of the gang.