Eighty-four individuals, gathered for trafficking, have been rescued from a human traffickers’ den deep in the hills of Teknaf, a border area in Cox’s Bazar. During the operation, three members of the trafficking ring were arrested, and a significant cache of firearms was recovered.
The three arrested individuals are Abdullah (21), Saiful Islam (20), and Md Ibrahim (20). However, two individuals named Rezaul Karim and Ayatul Tanjid managed to flee.
The operation was conducted jointly by the Teknaf 2 BGB Battalion and RAB-15 on Sunday. The matter was confirmed in a BGB press release on Monday afternoon.
BGB stated that on Saturday, they received confidential information that a trafficking ring was holding several victims captive in the remote hills of the Kachchapia area in Baharchhara Union, Teknaf, luring them with promises of travel to Malaysia or Thailand.
Immediately upon receiving the information, an anti-human trafficking operation was launched under the leadership of the Teknaf 2 BGB Battalion. Initially, one trafficker was arrested and four victims were rescued from the hilly area of Baharchhara. After the rescue, testimony and other crucial information were obtained from the victims.
Following this initial success, to deal a severe blow to the gang, Teknaf Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Ashiqur Rahman and RAB-15 Commander Lieutenant Colonel Kamrul Hasan planned a coordinated and large-scale joint operation.
According to BGB, several operational teams from BGB and RAB then conducted a combing operation from the Kachchapia area of Baharchhara to the top of Rajachhara hill. In the first phase of the operation, 14 victims were rescued, and another 13 were rescued from a nearby hill.
Subsequently, while conducting an operation on another hill in the Rajachhara area, the fleeing traffickers desperately fired two rounds initially, and then another round, targeting the joint forces from the hilltop. The abductors also pushed several hostages down the hill at that time. For the safety of the victims, the joint forces refrained from returning fire.
Instead, they immediately surrounded the hill and launched a tactical assault, scaling the steep slope to apprehend the armed traffickers at the summit.
According to them, due to the bravery and relentless efforts of the BGB and RAB members, after nearly 12 hours of a daring operation, two traffickers were arrested, and one single-shot gun and one single-barrel gun were recovered from the scene. Furthermore, a search of their hideout yielded one foreign-made pistol, two local ramda (machetes), and one knife. At that time, three fresh rounds of ammunition were also seized from the chambers of three firearms.
According to BGB sources, in this highly risky operation, the joint operational team rescued 51 victims from various hills and their foothills, and another 6 victims from a hilltop. On the same day, four more individuals were rescued from the Boroitoli area near the Damdamia border outpost. In total, the joint operation freed 84 victims from the clutches of the traffickers.
A case has been filed under existing laws at the local police station against the three accused arrested in this operation, and the process of handing them over is underway.
