The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) claims to have busted an international human trafficking gang, and has held three men in Dhaka.
The detainees have been identified as Mollik Razaul Haque Selim, 62, Md Bulbul Ahmed Mollik, 55, and Nironjon Pal, 51.
Acting on a tip off, a team of RAB-4 conducted a drive in Mirpur and Uttara areas of the capital and detained the three human traffickers on Monday night, said ANM Imran Khan of RAB Headquarters (media).
During the drive, the elite force also seized fake passports, visa stamps, photos, mobile phone sets, SIM cards, cash and other documents from their possession.
RAB 4 Captain Mozammel Haque at a press conference on Tuesday said that Selim was the ringleader while the other two were his associates.
Seven more people were involved with them in different areas, including Dhaka.
During interrogation, the detainees confessed to the RAB officials that they would lure their potential victims with job offers in countries like Australia, Portugal, Netherlands, Romania, Greece, France and Malta. However, their targets were trafficked to India instead, the RAB official said.
"The gang tortured their victims physically and mentally in India. Later, they showed the videos to family members of the victims and demanded ransom,” Mozammel said.
The RAB official said each victim paid Tk12-15 lakh in the name of getting jobs in Australia and Europe.
The gang also used to collect Tk15-20 lakh more as ransom, while detaining the victims in torture cells in Delhi and Kolkata.
Legal action would be taken against the detainees, the RAB 4 chief said.