Four suspected human traffickers arrested on charges of raping a woman

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested four suspected human traffickers on charges of raping a woman after promising to send her to Saudi Arabia.

Kamrul Ahmed, 42, Khaled Masud Helal, 36, Tofail Ahmed, 38, and ‘Jamal’, 42, were arrested in Dhaka’s Rampura and Hatirjheel areas, the RAB said in a statement on Saturday, reports bdnews24.com.

The elite police unit also seized 27 passports and a computer used for making fake visas and tickets.

It rescued the woman from a house in Rampura around 3:00 am on Thursday after she called RAB 3, saying a man raped her on the pretext of training her for a housemaid’s job in the Middle East.

Kamrul and Tofail, the man who allegedly raped the woman, were arrested at that time. Helal and Jamal were arrested later.

The woman from Jamalpur told the RAB that her husband ‘Saiful’ fled recently after her family had paid him Tk 500,000 in dowry by borrowing the money.  

When the lenders started pressuring her father, he went to Tofail for advice. Tofail, who lived in the same area, proposed to send her to Saudi Arabia. 

Tofail took her to Kamrul’s house, saying she needed to learn Arabic for the job after her family agreed to send her abroad. .

RAB said the ring of human traffickers sent more than 100 people illegally to Europe and the Middle East. Some of them returned from the airport and the others are passing a miserable life abroad.

 “The gang swindled Tk 500,000 to Tk 700,000 out of each victim – youths who were willing to travel to Europe via the Middle East – by giving them fake visas and tickets.”

RAB estimates the gang, headed by Kamrul, embezzled Tk 300 million in three years. Kamrul became involved with a human-trafficking ring after he had gone to Dubai in 2019.

He and Khaled, who lived in Saudi Arabia for 15 years, expanded the business in Dhaka later. Kamrul is accused in several cases on human-trafficking charges.