People being smuggled out by sea as land and air routes are shut, Bangladesh Police claim

Smugglers are increasingly towing people out to sea as trafficking by land and air has stopped because of government and police efforts, so claims a senior police officer.

Additional Inspector General of Police Md Mokhlesur Rahman on Tuesday said three cells were working to tackle people smuggling in Bangladesh.

He made the assertion at a programme in Dhaka on inter-country police cooperation to prevent people trafficking and smuggling.

Rahman’s comment came amid reports of thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, stranded at sea in Southeast Asia.

“People earlier used to be smuggled out mostly by land and air,” he said.

“But the trend of trafficking people by river and sea routes increased after smuggling through land and air routes stopped.”

Thousands of Myanmar Rohingyas are boarding traffickers’ boats to flee persecution and many Bangladeshis are joining them for better fortune abroad.

About 25,000 Rohingyas and Bangladeshis boarded rickety boats in the first three months of 2015, twice as many during the same period last year, the UNHCR said.

Bangladesh has stepped up operations against traffickers.

The Cabinet last month approved a huge project to strengthen the coastguards to curb people smuggling on its shores.

The police officer said they arrested about 3,500 suspected human traffickers and eight of them had been sentenced to death by court.

Many have been arrested after the death of over 3,000 migrants but some of them were getting out.

“We may have some shortcomings but eight of them have been sentenced to death through our investigation,” Rahman said when asked whether faulty police investigation allowed the suspects to walk free.

Countries around the Andaman Sea initially pushed back thousands of boat people despite repeated calls from the UN to shelter them.

More than 4,000 migrants have now landed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh since Thailand launched a crackdown on human trafficking gangs in May.

Some human traffickers fled leaving hundreds of helpless migrants in rickety boats without food, water, and fuel.

Hundreds are still believed to be adrift.

Thai crackdown laid bare smuggling routes in Malaysia, a popular destination for migrants, and forced the traffickers to abandon many of their camps where some mass graves were found.

Bangladesh Police are hosting the two-day conference to strengthen police cooperation on trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants with support from the Australian Federal Police and the UNDP Police Reform Programme.

Senior police officers, experienced in investigating human trafficking and smuggling, from Bangladesh, Australia, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand are taking part.