Trafficking ring flees abandoning office

As soon as the 26 fortune seekers returned to the country from confinement in Nepal in March, the transnational human trafficking ring, which had swindled them with promises of jobs in Canada, abandoned its operation in the capital's Lalmatia and went into hiding.

The syndicate had been running an office on the first floor of a building at Block C of Lalmatia over the last one and a half years, according to locals and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), which arrested two "key persons" of the gang in Khulna on Wednesday.

Wishing anonymity, a salesman of a nearby grocery said a peon of the office would buy stuff like sugar and teabags from his shop regularly, but he did not show up for over a month.

"I did not see any of the 'officers' during this time as well," he said.

The salesman added that the syndicate members did not even tell the hawker to stop delivering newspapers, as the hawker came several times for payment in the last couple of weeks but returned empty-handed.

Another shopkeeper said locals knew that they had been running manpower business there.

Abul Kalam Azad, father of a victim, who filed a human trafficking case against five persons on April 21 with Dhanmondi police, said he went to the office over a month ago but found it closed.

His son Arif Shahriar Rasel and 25 others returned on March 20 from Nepal via India after each family paid the syndicate ransoms ranging from Tk 14 lakh to Tk 22 lakh, said Rab.

Using the name Planet Overseas Consultant, the traffickers used to attract "clients", saying they did not take money in advance.

Mujibur Rahman, one of the two arrested on Wednesday, said he had been in the syndicate since 1996, said Rab. The other arrestee is Faisal-ur-Rashid.

Lt Commander Masud Rana, commanding officer of Rab-2, yesterday said the victims were from around the country, making Rab suspect that the traffickers might have agents countrywide.

Meanwhile, Dhanmondi police said the two arrestees were remanded yesterday for two days each in the trafficking case filed by Abul Kalam Azad.