Three human traffickers killed: police

Three suspected human traffickers were shot dead by police during an anti-trafficking operation on Teknaf beach in Cox’s Bazar early Friday after dozens of remains were found in mass graves for illegal migrants in Thailand.They were killed during an encounter when a group of alleged human traffickers were attempting to smuggle some people to Malaysia by sea, said the police.The raid followed the discovery of dozens of migrant graves and a network of secret jungle camps by human traffickers in Thailand’s deep south.
The three alleged human traffickers were from Teknaf bordering Myanmar, said police. They were identified as Dhalu Hossain, 55, Jahangir Alam, 30, and Zafar Alam, 25. Police said the three men had operated human trafficking networks at home and in Thailand and Malaysia, where many were later held hostage in remote jungle hideouts.Police seized two firearms, three rounds of live bullet and some other ammunition after the gunfight, said Teknaf police officer-in-charge Ataur Rahman.

The deceased were named in a list of human traffickers prepared by the home ministry, said the police.Dhalu, leader of the racket, was an accused in nine human trafficking cases while Jahangir was wanted in eight cases and Zafar in two cases, added the police.The Teknaf police said that some other members of the racket were still engaged in sending people to Malaysia illegally by sea.On a tip-off, police launched the drive in Hatchery Beach area of Teknaf where a group of human traffickers were waiting for people whom they were planning to send to Malaysia, said Ataur.AS police reached the spot, the human traffickers opened fire in a bid to flee prompting law enforcers to return fire.Three members of the gang were injured in the shootout. They were taken to Teknaf hospital where doctors declared them dead.The bodies were kept at Cox’s Bazar Sadar hospital morgue for autopsy.
Four police men were injured in the fighting. They received first aid in a local hospital.Two separate cases were filed with Teknaf model police station in connection with the incident.
Meanwhile, Rapid Action Battalion-7 arrested Anwar Hossain, 28, an alleged human trafficker, from Cox’s Bazar Sadar early Friday.

The battalion officials said that Anwar was an assistant of Rafique alias Burmese Rafique, a local ringleader of human traffickers.Mass graves were unearthed in graves in the jungles of Thailand’s southern Songkhla province in recent times and in the first of such discoveries, 26 bodies were pulled out from a shallow grave in one of these camps on May 1.International media quoted a survivor as claiming that more than 500 captives, mostly migrants, had been killed.The reports also said most of the victims were thought to be from Myanmar and Bangladesh.One Luto Mia of Sonadia Island in Moheshkhali was shot dead by human traffickers when villagers were resisting human traffickers there on April 9 last.
According to Chittagong Metropolitan Police, a racket of 241 human traffickers of Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia were active in coastal areas of Bangladesh.
Tofail Ahmed, additional police super of Cox’s Bazar, told New Age that police had rescued more 300 foreign job seekers and arrested 20 human traffickers in last two months.
Lieutenant colonel Khandakar Saiful Alam, commanding officer of BGB 17 battalion, Cox’s Bazar, told New Age that the border guards had rescued some 78 foreign job seekers and 23 human traffickers during last six months.

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