Police say it has detained 19 people including two ‘traffickers’ from a hotel at Dhaka’s Ashkona.
Published : 01 Jun 2015, 11:45 AM
The 17 people found at a hotel near the airport were waiting to be smuggled to Palau via Thailand and Indonesia, according to Detective Branch Assistant Commissioner Mahamud Naser.
“The two traffickers were sending the 17 to Thailand with tourist visas. Then they planned to smuggle them to Palau via Indonesia,” he told bdnews24.com.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesperson SM Jahangir Alam Sarkar said that details will be provided at a briefing later on Monday.
Thai authorities found camps used for holding migrants heading to Malaysia and mass graves in its southern province last month.
According to media reports, remains of many Bangladesh nationals were found among others in the graves of the Thai jungles.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have cracked down on traffickers, who smuggle people from Bangladesh and Myanmar on boats across the Bay of Bengal.
Law-enforcers in Bangladesh have also started cracking down on human traffickers involved in the trade.
Suspected traffickers have been nabbed from different areas in the last one month and at least five died in what police described as ‘shootouts’.