Joynal Abedin Khan :The recent awful discovery of a mass grave in Thailand jungle, prospective migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar, the Bangladesh government has directed the police and intelligent agencies to show zero tolerance to the human traffickers.After directives, law enforcers have started the action for zero tolerance against the organized human traffickers across the country.”Lawmen have already launched a massive hunt for criminal gang members who were involved in trafficking thru different sea routes of Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong,” AKM Shahidul Hoq, Inspector General of Police (IGP) told the reporters in Barisal city on Saturday. Police already has formed several special committees in this regard and the committees’ members are trying to arrest the traffickers, the IGP said. In the latest incident, three alleged human traffickers were killed in a ‘gunfight’ with police in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar district early Friday. The victims were identified as Dulu Hossain, 45, Jahangir Alam, 40, and Jafar Alam, 35, from the Upazila. As part of the crackdown, members of Rapid Action Battalion detained two suspected traffickers, including ringleader Mojibur Rahman, from the capital’s Agargaon and Khulna city respectively early Wednesday.The police boss said, “The traffickers have many agents in several countries, including Thailand and Malaysia. Having links with their agents, they collect innocents from different parts of the country and later traffic them abroad.”At one stage of their captivity, law enforcers, they realise millions of taka as ransom from the poor family members of the gullible victims, the IGP said. “We have increased the vigilance on the several sea-routes as many fortune-seekers are often being rescued from Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong used by the traffickers as safe routes for human trafficking,” the Police boss said. Cox’s Bazar Police Super (SP) Shyamal Kumar Nath said that they have employed community police members to create awareness of human trafficking in criminal hot spots. “We’re more alert to human trafficking now. In separate operations, we managed to rescue several hundred Bangladeshi job-seekers during their precarious voyage to Malaysia. We also arrested a number of traffickers,” the SP said.Security personnel have already identified some 267 criminals at home and abroad who are involved in human trafficking. The involvement of some influential people and local representatives was also revealed, sources said. Brokers not only collect aspiring migrants by promising them good prospects abroad, but also abduct innocents and load many in sacks like goods forcibly for their perilous journeys by sea, detective sources said, they added.Meanwhile, thirty-two more illegal Bangladeshi migrants have been found on Khao Kaew Mountain in adjacent areas of Hat Yai and Rattaphum districts of Songkhla, Thailand.Local police spotted the migrants, all males, walking along the edge of a forest in Tambon Tha Chamuang in Rattaphum on Saturday, hours after 91 Bangladeshis along with 111 trafficked men were found from the same area.They were taken to Ban Khlong School in the district before being sent to a temporary shelter at the Rattaphum district office, where the 117 illegal migrants have been given refuge, reported Bangkok Post.
