On Friday around 8 pm, Police rescued 57 Rohingyas from the beach area of Marine Drive in Teknaf Sadar Union’s Dargar Chora who were being smuggled to Malaysia by sea at Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar. Meanwhile, a top trafficker named Mohammad Yasin was arrested. He is a resident of Maheshkhali Para of Teknaf.
Additional Superintendent of Police (Administration) of Cox’s Bazar, Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, said that a team of police, including Teknaf Model Police Station OC Muhammad Osman Gani, conducted a raid in the area based on a secret information that a group was illegally being smuggled to Malaysia by sea after falling into the clutches of traffickers. 57 Rohingya including women and children gathered in the beach area of Marine Drive were rescued. At this time the said trafficker Yasin was arrested.
Mohammad Sayed, who was rescued by the police, said that he left the camp for Malaysia along with three children. “I gave 40 thousand taka to the broker. The remaining Tk 2 lakh was supposed to be delivered to Indonesia. But the brokers stuck us in a mountain of Teknaf for 5 days. Finally I was caught by the police while preparing for the journey. However, many more Rohingyas are detained in the mountains by brokers” Sayed said.
By capitalizing on the socio-economic poverty and environmental helplessness of the victims, the traffickers resorted to sexual harassment, offered fraudulent marriages, and forced labor services by deceiving unmarried women with the lure of marriage for a better life and high-paying jobs. Later, the human traffickers would take the victims to Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia with the help of various syndicates. Operations are continuing to arrest other alleged human traffickers.
