Serious Crime Investigation unit of Bangladesh Police’s CID arrested two members of a human trafficking syndicate on 12 January in a raid in Rajoir police station area of Madaripur district.
CID Special Superintendent of Police (Media) Jasim Uddin Khan confirmed the information in a press release.
The arrests are connected to the tragic deaths of eight Bangladeshis in a boat capsize off the coast of Tunisia while they were being illegally sent to Italy via Libya, lured by false promises of a legal pathway.
The arrestees are Gurudas Barai, 45 and Md Motaleb Matabbar, 68.
Motaleb has a prior case against him under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009, which is being verified and reviewed as part of the investigation.
The trafficking syndicate collected around Tk14,00,000 per person from victims from various parts of the country, promising to send them to Italy legally. Subsequently, the victims were sent illegally to Libya, from where they were placed on an overcrowded boat to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
The boat capsized before reaching the Tunisian coast between around 11:30pm on 13 February and 4:30am on 14 February, 2024, resulting in the deaths of eight Bangladeshis.
The deceased are Sajal Bairagi, 25, Mamun Sheik, 24, Nayan Biswas, 18, Kazi Sajib, 19, Kaysar Khalifa, 35, Md Rifat Sheikh, 25, Rasel Sheikh, 19, and Emrul Kayes Apon, 24.
After the capsize, the bodies of four victims were preserved at Gabes University Hospital and the other four at Djerba General Hospital morgue. Later, the bodies were brought to Bangladesh through government channels and handed over to their families.
Following the incident, the victim Sajal Bairagi’s father, Sunil Bairagi, 59, filed a case under the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act, 2012, at the Airport Police Station in Dhaka Metropolitan area.
Necessary measures have been taken to produce the arrested accused before the court. The investigation into the case is ongoing.
