Cox’s Bazar police bust extortion racket targeting tourists, 11 arrested
Four people were rescued from captivity during the drive
Tourist police in Cox's Bazar have arrested eleven members of an extortion racket who used to trap tourists as part of an organised crime from the city's Kalatali point.
The arrestees are Md Alamgir, 45, Md Salim, 20, Akash Das, 23, Md Jobair, 28, Md Mamun, 22, Nazir Hossain, 28, Sekander Ali, 28, Md Sohail, 30, Md Jahangir Alam, 33, Md Jasim, 27, and Md Parvez, 2.
Four people were rescued during the drive that was conducted from 11pm on Sunday till dawn on Monday.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Additional Superintendent of Tourist Police (Cox's Bazar Zone) Md Rezaul Karim said, "Acting on a tip-off, police raided an establishment known as 'Sheuli Cottage' and rescued four people from captivity."
The gang was operating under the leadership of two men named Abdul Rahim from Ukhiya and Lokman from Moheshkhali, the tourist police added.
Although the miscreants managed to flee the scene using an alternative route, police later arrested 11 members of the gang from the residential cottage zone adjacent to Lighthouse area of the city.
According to the hostages, some nine people - including six male and three female – lured the tourists into the cottage and demanded ransom by threatening them after taking offensive pictures with the accompanying women.
"There have been reports of similar torture cells in other cottages as well," Rezaul Karim said adding that further investigation is underway.
A case is being filed in this regard.
