The Criminal Investigation Department’s Human Trafficking Unit arrested Mohammad Nazir Hossain, 55, from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport area at 3:30pm on 10 December.
Nazir, a key member of a human trafficking ring, is from Idhnpur in Doara Bazar, Sunamganj, is named in two separate trafficking cases now under CID investigation.
The gang lured young men with promises of high-paying jobs in Greece but instead, the victims were sent to Libya. Armed groups in Libya tortured them and demanded ransom.
Families in Bangladesh were forced to pay large sums to secure their release.
A case filed at Hajiganj Police Station in Chandpur on 4 December states that Sharif Uddin, 36, a Greece-based member of the ring, returned to Bangladesh in 2024.
He promised two men—including the complainant—jobs in Greece for Tk15 lakh each. Each victim handed over his passport and Tk2 lakh in advance.
In July this year, Sharif sent both men from Dhaka to Dubai, then Egypt, and finally Libya. After arrival, ring members handed them over to armed groups.
The victims were robbed of dollars and euros and then beaten while ransom was demanded from Bangladesh.
Nazir and his associates collected Tk21.8 lakh from one victim’s family and Tk16 lakh from the other.
Despite paying the ransom, the victims were not released. Libyan police detained them, and both spent 45 days in jail.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) helped them return to Bangladesh on 29 August 2025. When they later demanded their money back, the traffickers threatened them.
Nazir told investigators he had been sending victims to Libya for years under the false promise of taking them to Europe.
CID says the ring collected over Tk3.5 crore from at least 19 victims. Nine have returned through IOM support; the rest remain captive in Libya.
CID also found Nazir’s involvement in a second trafficking case filed at Demra Model Police Station under the same law.
According to the case statement, Bahadur Farazi, 55, the prime accused, contacted the complainant over the phone and offered a lucrative job in Greece. The complainant handed over his passport and Tk8 lakh.
Investigators found that in July this year, Nazir personally delivered the victim’s passport, visa, and ticket at the airport. The victim travelled via Dubai and Egypt to Libya, where another trafficker received him.
He was held in a house in Benghazi, beaten, and threatened. Nazir and others collected Tk11 lakh in ransom from the victim’s family.
After payment, associates in Libya abandoned the victim in the desert. Locals rescued him and handed him to police. After 19 days in a Libyan jail, he returned to Bangladesh through IOM on 25 August 2025.
The Demra case was filed on 21 November under the 2012 Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act. Police had earlier arrested one other suspect in this case.
CID found that Nazir is also a chargesheeted accused in Airport Police Station case no. 24 from 17 October 2021, under Penal Code sections 420, 467, 468, 471, and 109.
CID says Nazir has admitted involvement in both trafficking cases during preliminary questioning. Investigators plan to produce him before court with a remand prayer.
The Human Trafficking Unit continues operations to identify and arrest other members of the ring and to collect full details of their crimes.
