Children among 66 rescued in Teknaf as joint forces foil 'trafficking attempt' to Malaysia

Joint security forces have rescued 66 people, including children, who had reportedly gathered in Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf Upazila to be smuggled to Malaysia by sea.

The operation was carried out on Thursday night in a hilly area adjacent to Kachhapia in Baharchhara Union, according to Lt Commander Siam ul Haque, media officer of the Bangladesh Coast Guard Headquarters.

Among those rescued were 23 women, 22 men and 21 children.

Most of them are members of Myanmar's forcibly displaced Rohingya community.

Siam said that around 8:30pm on Thursday, law-enforcing agencies received intel that a group of people had assembled in the area to be smuggled by sea.

A joint team of the Bangladesh Coast Guard and the Bangladesh Navy then conducted a raid.

“At that time, 15 to 20 people escaped,” he said.

“Later, 66 people were rescued from several secret hideouts on the top of the hill.”

Some of those rescued said that organised kidnapping and human trafficking gangs are active in Teknaf.

They alleged that gang members had kidnapped some of them for ransom and held them there, luring them with promises of travel to other countries, including Malaysia.

The Bangladesh Coast Guard is working to identify the traffickers involved in the incident, Siam said.

He added that legal action is being taken at the Teknaf Police Station to reunite the rescued people with their families.