6 more arrested in connection with human trafficking, Libya killings

Several teams of police's Detective Branch (DB) in special drivers claimed to have arrested six people from different areas of Dhaka in connection with human trafficking and the killing of 26 Bangladeshis in Libya.

The arrestees are identified as Badsha Mia, Jahangir Mia, Akbar Hossain, Sujan Mia, Nazmul Hasan and Liaquat Sheikh alias Lipu. The DB teams also recovered four passports, two cell phones and two notebooks with cash collection details.

Earlier, 26 Bangladeshis were shot death and eleven more were seriously injured by Libyan criminals on May 28.

As the Dhaka Airport was used to traffic the victims to Libya via India, United Arab Emirates and Egypt, DB police started a shadow investigation into the cases filed in Madaripur and Kishoreganj districts and the city's Paltan and Tejgaon police stations, said Abdul Baten, additional commissioner of DMP.

While addressing a briefing at media and community centre, Baten said these victims were trafficked from Bangladesh to Libya and detained in various camps there and subjected to inhumane physical and mental torture. The torturers would record videos and audios of victims and send those to their relatives in Bangladesh and force them to pay millions, he said.

Analysing information from victims' relatives and using technological support, the DB teams made the arrests. Of the arrestees, Akbar Hossain hailed from Madaripur, said Baten.

"Akbar sent seven people from Madaripur district, killed in Libya, to his brother Amir Hossain living in the country," he said.

Arrestee Badsha Mia has been in Libya for the last 13 years and he has his own camp there at Jowara and Benghazi city, claimed Abdul Baten.

Badsha regularly trafficked people to Libya from all over Bangladesh and other traffickers also kept the victims in his camps, he said.

The killing took place when four of the dead – from Madaripur-- were being held in his camp and were being trafficked to Tripoli, police said.

Another arrestee Jahangir also hails from Madaripur, but he mainly stays in Dhaka and collects tourist visas and on-arrival visas by scanning passports and sending soft copies of those to UAE and Libya, said Baten.

Sujan Mia was arrested from Dhaka's Kamalapur area on Saturday and he already gave confessional statement in front of a Dhaka court. Sujan sent three people to Libya, out of whom, two are missing and one is undergoing treatment in a hospital, Baten added.

Meanwhile, a CID team arrested three people after conducting a drive in the capital's Gulistan area on Sunday night.

The arrestees are identified as Sohag Hossain, Khalid Chowdhury and Mst Sanjida, Syeda Jannat Ara, special superintendent of CID, said while addressing a briefing today.

"We are conducting drives to arrest people associated with the arrestees," she said.

SI Jannat, without disclosing further details, said that they are in the middle of the investigation and are hopeful in arresting everyone responsible.

She further said that CID is investigating around 12 cases filed with different police stations of the country regarding the killing of 26 Bangladeshis in Libya.