Dhaka: The Coast Guard today arrested 15 human traffickers during a drive in the deep sea off St. Martin’s Island and rescued a total of 153 people, including women and children who were taken there for trafficking.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Lieutenant Commander Sabbir Alam Sujon, Media Officer of the Coast Guard, disclosed the information to the media this afternoon. He stated that acting on confidential intelligence reports indicating a large number of men, women, and children were gathered in the deep sea southwest of St. Martin’s Island for trafficking to Malaysia by sea, the Coast Guard ship ‘Kamruzzaman’ was deployed under ‘Operation Samudra Prahari’ to conduct a special drive at around 3am.
During the operation, a suspicious boat was signaled to stop, but it attempted to flee, defying the signal. The Coast Guard later chased and intercepted the boat in the southeastern waters off St. Martin’s Island. Upon searching the vessel, Coast Guard personnel rescued 153 victims, including women and children, who were being trafficked to Malaysia and arrested 15 suspected traffickers.
Preliminary interrogation of the rescued individuals revealed that organized trafficking networks had been luring Bangladeshi and Rohingya nationals from different parts of the country, including Teknaf, with promises of better living standards, high-paying jobs, and low-cost overseas travel with plans to smuggle them to Malaysia by sea. Legal proceedings against the arrested traffickers are currently underway, the Coast Guard spokesman added.