Arakan News Agency
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Bangladesh rescued 24 Rohingya individuals, including women and children, from the clutches of human traffickers in the remote hills of Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar.
Assistant Director of the Rapid Action Battalion, A.M. Faruk, stated that among those rescued were 4 men, 10 women, and 10 children, all residents of Rohingya refugee camps. He explained that the traffickers had lured the victims with promises of being taken to Malaysia, only to later detain them by force in a house atop the hills.
Faruk added that the traffickers fled the scene upon sensing the presence of the RAB team, noting that the rescue operation lasted for about three hours.
A case has been filed with Teknaf Police against members of the trafficking gang, and efforts are ongoing to apprehend the remaining perpetrators. Arrangements have also been made to return the rescued individuals to their original refugee camps.
It is noteworthy that law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh — including the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Coast Guard, and RAB — have intensified anti-human trafficking operations in Teknaf. Over the past month alone, 432 victims were rescued and 51 suspects were arrested.
Last Sunday, the Bangladesh Coast Guard rescued more than 40 people, including Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals, from a human trafficking operation in the Teknaf area near the Myanmar border.
Recently, Bangladeshi security forces successfully rescued 29 Rohingya refugees, including women and children, from an attempted illegal trafficking operation along the Marine Drive beach in Cox’s Bazar.
Additionally, RAB arrested three individuals in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar district, following information provided by victims who had managed to escape captivity.
Bangladesh currently hosts approximately 1.3 million Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar camps, which the United Nations identifies as the largest refugee settlement in the world. The refugees have been living under dire humanitarian conditions since fleeing Myanmar in 2017 due to the military’s genocidal campaign against them. Their displacement has continued amid renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Buddhist militias (Arakan Army) in Arakan State since November 2023.
