The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) recently busted a kidnapping racket operated by an Awami League leader and his son who have become millionaires allegedly by taking huge amount of ransom money from family members of the hostages. The kingpin of the gang Selim Molla is vice president of Harirampur Unit Awami League in Manikganj district and second-in-command his son Rajibul Hasan alias Rajib is general secretary of same upazila Chhatra League. All the 10 members of the racket arrested by the RAB are leaders of ruling party and its different associate bodies.
According to the report of a local daily, the gang in the last few years had abducted several persons, mostly moneyed businessmen, from the capital city Dhaka and its surrounding areas. During operation, the kidnappers wearing DB police uniforms used microbuses along with carrying pistols and walkie-talkies.
Acting on a tip-off, the members of RAB on Sunday last arrested Selim Mollah and nine others raiding his residence in Kalua village and rescued two businessmen. The RAB also recovered a huge quantity of arms-ammunition along with 2, 85,000 ransom money from their possession. RAB claimed that some rooms of the building were used as torture rooms.
No doubt social crimes, including abduction, murder, extortion and rape, have marked a rise where the influential people belonging to the ruling party are mainly involved. It’s a big question how a kidnapping gang in the guise of detective police ran their illegal business even in the capital for a long time dodging the law enforcement agencies? In the last few years, several hundred people so far have been abducted and most of them returned home after a long break. In all cases, the victims remained tight lipped after return.
At present, the moneyed businessmen are unsafe in the country. Many of them finding it unsafe to live in the country. That is the case with men in connection with powerful ones in the government.
