2 members of trafficking gang held

Police arrested two alleged members of a gang of human traffickers in Narayanganj on Thursday.

Hazrat Ali, 38, of Jamalpur's Melandah and Saiful Islam, 22, of Narayanganj's Fatullah were arrested after a father of a trafficking victim filed a case against them and two others with Fatullah Police Station.

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The other accused persons, Harun of Jamalpur and Dulal Hossain of Fatullah, are in Libya. 

In the case statement, Mizanur Rahman mentioned that the traffickers tricked his son Mehedi Hasan and neighbour Selim into going to Libya with promises of lucrative jobs six months ago.

Mizanur, a resident of Narsingdi's Belabo upazila, said Dulal called him on April 5 and claimed that Mehedi and Selim were in their custody in Libya and demanded Tk 50,000 for each victim's safety.

He asked Mizanur to give the amount to Saiful.

Mizanur's son Mehedi also called him and said Dulal and Harun often tortured him and Selim.

To stop the torture, Mizanur gave Tk 30,000 to Saiful in Fatullah on April 22. But Saiful called him hours later and asked for Tk 1.9 lakh.

When Mizanur refused to pay the money, Mehedi and Selim were tortured in Libya.

Hazrat also called Mizanur and asked for money several times this month.

The grieving father then went to police and filed the case.

After they were arrested in Fatullah area, Hazrat and Saiful in primary interrogation admitted that they forced several families of trafficking victims to give Tk 30-32 lakh in recent months. Police recovered Tk 5 lakh from the houses of the arrestees.

Police are trying to arrest several other suspected members of the gang, Kamaluddin, officer-in-charge of Fatullah Police Station, said.