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Published : 10 Jul 2025, 11:24 PM
The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has said two Bangladeshis kidnapped and tortured in Libya while seeking work were freed as two suspects were arrested and "pressured" in Bangladesh.
The two Bangladeshis released from 42 days of captivity are Alamgir Hossain, 45, and Siraj Uddin, 35.
Alamgir returned home on Wednesday. Additional DIG of Dhaka Metro North of police Md Enayet Hossain Mannan has said the process of bringing Siraj back to the country is under way.
At a media briefing in Dhaka’s Agargaon on Thursday, he detailed the investigation into the kidnapping and release of the two Bangladeshis.
Alamgir, present at the briefing, said the torturers were all Bangladeshis.
He also mentioned seeing seven more Bangladeshis being held and tortured there.
Giving information about the abduction of Alamgir and Siraj from a workshop in the Jamajaitan area of Libya’s Tripoli on Jan 8, PBI official Enayet said: “The Libyan militia group, along with a Bangladeshi gang, held the victims hostage and physically tortured them while keeping their families in Bangladesh connected live on imo. They demanded a ransom of Tk 2.2 million from each family.
“We rescued them using various methods. Alamgir was brought back [Wednesday].
“They were held hostage in an unknown location and subjected to severe torture, as the kidnappers believed they could demand more ransom if they treated the victims harsher.”
According to the PBI, the kidnappers kept the victims’ family members live on the social media app imo, physically torturing and threatening to kill them if the ransom was not paid quickly.
On Jan 13, Siraj's family sent Tk 150,000 to the agent banking account of Islami Bank provided by the kidnappers.
Meanwhile, Alamgir's elder brother Abdul Malek filed a case with Dhaka's Adabor Police Station.
Based on information regarding money sent by Siraj's family, a man named Rasel Haque, 25, was arrested in Rajshahi on Jan 30.
Providing details about this, Enayet said: “The victim's family communicated multiple times with Rasel’s Libyan expatriate uncle, Kamal Hossain, regarding the ransom payment. Kamal also shared the bank slip showing Tk 150,000 sent by Siraj’s family.
“Even after sending the ransom amount, the torture on the victims did not stop, and the two families were forced to send another Tk 400,000 to the account.”
Later, with the help of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), the PBI arrested another person named Mintu Faraji from Bagerhat on Feb 16 based on the transaction details.
At the same time, the account was “blocked” to prevent him from withdrawing the money.
“Through the arrests made, we forced the accused party in Libya to release the abductees. They left the two injured and sick victims in an area named Jinjia and left. Later, they took shelter with an acquaintance named Jasim,” Enayet said.
“As far as we know from the investigation of this case, the Bangladeshis were taken away by local militias.
“However, we have not yet found any connection between them and any manpower export organisation.”
At the briefing, Alamgir said that he went to Libya in October 2022. At first, he worked there, but later he opened a workshop himself.
He and his colleague Siraj were abducted from the workshop on Jan 8 this year. Later, after prolonged torture, they were released on Feb 19.
He said the militiamen blindfolded the two of them and took them away. Their passports were also taken away.
Recounting the torture they were subjected to, he said: “They beat us thrice a day. They forced us to call home and demand ransom, and if the family couldn’t raise the money, they would torture us.”
