13 rescued, 'trafficker' arrested
Police yesterday rescued 13 people and arrested an alleged human trafficker from a residential hotel at Burimari land port in Patgram upazila.
The victimes were brought to the border area mostly from Chandpur and Tangail districts allegedly by Sekendar Ali,53, son of late Hazi Akbor Ali at Kharuni village of Borura upazila in Comilla, said police.
The rescued 13 are Swapon Miah,28, son of Azizul Haque, Manik Miah,28, son of Abu Taher, Shipon Miah,36, son of late Abdur Rashid, Rafique Miah,28, son of Hazrat Ali, Shahadat Ali,45, son of late Nur Islam-- all from Baghabari Chowdhury Bari village in Kochua upazila of Chandpur district, Ripon Islam,26, son of late Foyzuddin, Yunus Ali,27, son of Hasen Ali, Humayun Mollah,30, son of late Mohammad Ali, Rahim Uddin,28, son of Abdul Gofur of Snowtiya village in Kalihati upazila of Tangail district, Selim Miah,24, son of Fazar Ali at Kusumpur village in Kochua upazila of Chandpur, Rasel Shaikh,22, son of Kashem Shaikh at Arishai village of the same upazila, Belal Hossain,32, son of late Keramot Ali at Bortula village of the same upazila and Manik Islam,22, son of Humayun Kabir at Pilgrapi village of Borura upazila in Comilla.
Police said, a Patgram PS team and Burimari immigration police jointly raided a residential hotel in Sakhkhor Plaza yesterday morning and rescued the 13 victims and the alleged trafficker Sekendar Ali who allegedly promised them to manage lucrative jobs at a construction firm in Bhutan.
He took Tk 50 thousand from each of the victims for the job and brought them from Dhaka on Wednesday night.
Victim Swapon Miah said, ”We were jobless. So we gave him the money as he offered us job with high salary".
Sekendar however claimed that his son Sahidul Islam works at a construction firm in Bhutan.
"My son told me to send some jobless people for the construction firm. So, I took Tk 50 thousand from each of 13 jobseekers to send them through the border.”
OC of Patgram PS Murshidul Karim said, Sekendar Ali cheated all 13 people from Tangail and Chandpur districts as they have no legal papers to cross the border.
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