Human Trafficking: Kuwait-based ringleader arrested in Narsingdi

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested an alleged ringleader of a Kuwait-based human trafficking gang in Narsingdi's Madhabdi upazila.

The arrestee, Ameer Hossain alias Siraj Uddin, 49, fled to Bangladesh from Kuwait in May last year after he had faced trial for his involvement in human trafficking, Jisanul Haque, senior assistant superintendent of the CID, told The Daily Star.

CID came to know about Ameer from a report of a foreign intelligence agency and finally caught him in Madhabdi area on Monday night, he added.

Ameer went to Kuwait several years ago and in collusion with two of his cohorts and a Kuwaiti national formed a human trafficking gang there. The gang trafficked nearly 900 Bangladeshis into Kuwait, Jisanul said.

According to CID sources, the gang members used to collect visas from the Kuwait authorities through forgery and sent those to fortune seekers back in Bangladesh. In exchange, they used to take Tk 6 lakh from each person.

Miseries awaited the Bangladeshis who would be tricked into going to that country with fake promises of good jobs. Reaching there, they would to stay in streets amid crisis of food and money, said the CID official, who led the drive to arrest Ameer.

The Kuwait authorities started investigation against the gang after some of its victims lodged complaints there. Though the Kuwaiti national, one of the ringleaders, is serving a six-year jail sentence in his country, Ameer and two Bangladeshis somehow fled to Bangladesh before being awarded jail sentences and fine.

CID officials said they were trying to arrest the other members of the gang.