Rape suspect Ridoy Babo coordinates international trafficking ring: police

The people arrested over the assault on a Bangladeshi woman in India are members of an international human-trafficking racket coordinated by Rifatul Islam alias TikTok Ridoy Babo, police say.

Members of the gang, all aged between 20 and 25, had trafficked several other women earlier, Dhaka Metropolitan Police said at a news conference on Saturday.

“Some criminals from Bangladesh’s southwest and some Indian states have created this organised international human-trafficking ring,” said Mohammad Shahidullah, a deputy commissioner with the DMP.

With their network stretched as far as Dubai and other places in the Middle East, the gang mainly targets runaway young women studying in schools and colleges, or even housewives, the police officer said. 

Police in India arrested Ridoy and five others, including two women, after a video of the assault on the 22-year-old victim went viral on social media. Ridoy and another suspect were shot during an escape attempt as they face charges of raping the victim as well.

All the six suspects are also Bangladeshis, but they have no travel document.

The DMP’s DC Shahudul said Ridoy and the others entered India illegally, as they often do to smuggle women.

Both Ridoy and the victim resided in Dhaka’s Moghbazar, where Ridoy is a familiar face. Her family said Ridoy tricked her by promising her a job in Dubai. Her husband also works in the Middle East and they have a 3-year-old daughter.

The victim’s father has started a case against Ridoy and unidentified others on charges related to human trafficking and pornography.   

Police said a number of youths who are trying to become TikTok stars created a Facebook group, which was later used for trafficking in humans with the support of an international ring.

Nearly 800 young men and women joined a pool party at a resort on the outskirts of Dhaka under the supervision of the Facebook group’s administrator by the end of 2020.

Ridoy was one of the coordinators of the party, according to police. 

Some members of the group trick female members by promising them job in malls or salons in India. The victims are later forced into sex trade.

The police said the ring is based in Bengaluru’s Anandapur, where the victims are drugged and forced to pose for nude photos, which are later used to blackmail them.

The traffickers then send the victims to hotels for sex trade.