Members of Rapid Action Battalion foiled a human trafficking bid and rescued 31 people, including 22 children, from the hilly area of Teknaf in Cox鈥檚 Bazar early Monday while trafficking them to Malaysia.
The victims included 26 Rohingyas and five Bangladeshi nationals, Devjit Pal, senior assistant director (law and media) of RAB-15 told media.
He said that two members of the trafficking gang were arrested during the raid. They are Md Anwar, 44, of Pankhali area under Palankhali union of Teknaf and Mohammad Aiyub, 36, of Uttar Lambari under Teknaf sadar union.
Devjit said that traffickers confined them in a hideout on top of a hill in Kachchhapia area of Teknaf, with the intention to traffic them to Malaysia.
He said that Ekhlas Mia, his cousin and friends of Mochharkhola area in Ukhia upazila were abducted by human traffickers from Kachhapia sea beach along marine drive on November 12.
The traffickers took them forcefully to a hideout, where they saw other victims kept confined there. Later, Ekhlas along with 15/20 others was taken to the nearby sea beach and boarded on a fishing trawler to take them to Malaysia as his family could not meet their demand of Tk 2 lakh as ransom.
At one stage, Ekhlas managed to flee and reported the incident to RAB-15 in a bid to rescue his cousin, friends and others.
Based on his information, RAB-15 members conducted a raid on the hideout and rescued the victims, Devjit added.
A case was filed with Teknaf police station in this connection.
