Transnational trafficking gang using Tiktok to lure youths: Police
School, college students and sometimes young housewives are their targets, said Md Shahidullah, DC of Tejgaon division of DMP
Police have detected a transnational trafficking ring behind trafficking young girls using Tiktok and forcing them into prostitution in India.
They got the information while investigating the footage of brutal physical abuse of a Bangladeshi girl in India, police said.
The gang involving some Bangladeshis is luring young girls using TikTok glamour and traffic them into India. School, college students and sometimes young housewives are their targets, said Md Shahidullah, deputy commissioner of Tejgaon division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, in a briefing on Saturday.
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The transnational gang consists of criminals from the southwestern region of Bangladesh and several states of India. Its network is stretched out to Dubai, United Arab Emirates and some other countries in the Middle East, said the police officer.
He said the ring's den is in Anandapur of Bengaluru, India. They lure young girls with job offers in shopping malls, beauty parlors and super shops.
The gang members first take the girls to India through illegal ways. During their stay in India, the victims are tortured, sexually assaulted. The ring also records the abusive incidents.
They then blackmail the victims, threatening to send the photos and video footage to their families or leak those on social media, in case the victims try to escape.
The girls are later forced into prostitution, using those photographs and video footages as blackmail tools, said police.
A recent sexual assault video of a girl in India that went viral in social media has created an outcry. Police have confirmed identities of the victim girl and one of the assaulters as Bangladeshis.
Police said the girl, aged around 24, was trafficked into India from Dhaka and forced to be a sex-worker.
Indian police told the media that they have arrested five youths, who are from Bangladesh, over the incident.
The victim's father filed a case with Hatirjheel police station in connection with the human trafficking incident.
Police officials said 700-800 TikTok users recently took part in a social event last year, organised by 'TikTok Hridoy' in the suburbs of Dhaka city. Hridoy is one of those who were arrested in India.
The arrested youths entered India illegally, police said, adding, they started communicating with India through INTERPOL to extradite the arrestees.
