Coast Guard and Navy in a joint operation in the remote hills of Baharchhara in Teknaf; 66 people, including women and children were rescued from captivity intended for trafficking on Friday.
Coast Guard Media Officer Lieutenant Commander Siam-ul-Haq informed this in a press release.
The press release said that based on intelligence reports, it was learned that a large number of people, including women and children, had been held captive in the remote hills of Baharchhara, Teknaf, with the intention of trafficking them to Malaysia by sea. Acting on the information, on Thursday from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM, a joint operation was carried out by the Bangladesh Coast Guard and the Navy. During the operation, members of the Coast Guard and Navy rescued 66 individuals, including women and children, from a secret hideout on the hilltop where they had been detained by traffickers.
Upon interrogation, the rescued individuals revealed that several organized trafficking gangs had lured Bangladeshi and Rohingya nationals from Teknaf and other parts of the country with false promises of high-paying jobs abroad, better employment opportunities, improved living standards, low-cost travel, and even free passage with the condition of repaying the expenses later through their wages. These gangs had confined them in secret hideouts in the remote hills of Teknaf. Later, the traffickers had planned to smuggle them to Malaysia by boat from coastal points near Marine Drive at a convenient time.
The press release also stated that the traffickers had attempted to extort ransom money by subjecting them to physical abuse while in captivity.
During the operation, sensing the presence of the joint forces, the traffickers managed to flee, and therefore no arrests were made. However, surveillance and operations by the Navy and Coast Guard are ongoing to apprehend them.
The Bangladesh Navy and Coast Guard will continue such operations in the future to prevent human trafficking, the press release added.
