Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members have rescued nine people while being illegally trafficked to Malaysia and Cyprus and detained nine alleged members of an international human trafficking racket.  

Based on a tip-off, seven out of the nine people were rescued in a drive in the adjacent areas of Airport road on March 13, Rab-3 said in a press release today.  

The rest two victims, who were being illegally trafficked to Cyprus, were rescued yesterday from the same area, Rab said.

Rab-3 revealed the details of the drives at a press conference at Rab media centre in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar.

Recovered items include ransom money, foreign currency, a huge number of passports, fake visas and visa making materials including fake rubber stamps. Photo: Muntakim Saad

Among the detainees, Badshah Sheikh, who according to the Rab worked as the “second-in-command” to one Abdul Halim’s gang, is the main person behind the illegal trafficking.

“766 victims of human trafficking, 496 members of human trafficking gang in 156 drives in recent times so far”

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Halim is now hiding in Malaysia, Rab said.

On March 21, Badshah was detained with fake passports and visas and foreign currencies in Satakul area of Badda.  

In the drives, Rab-3 recovered a total of Tk 94.384, foreign currencies, 100 passports, 32 fake visas and visa making materials including eight monitors, six CPUs, five UPS, four printers, one scanner, one photocopy machine and six fake rubber stamps.

In primary interrogation, the detainees told Rab that the gang does not have any recruiting licence, the press release added.  

Meanwhile, the elite force claimed that it had been able to rescue 766 victims of human trafficking, 496 members of human trafficking gang in 156 drives in recent times so far.