Haji Kamal involved in trafficking of 400 Bangladeshis to Libya

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the ringleader of a human trafficking gang for his alleged involvement in the trafficking of 26 Bangladeshis who were killed in Libya last week.

The arrestee, Haji Kamal Hossain, 55, sent about 400 Bangladeshis to Libya illegally in the last 10-12 years, said Colonel Rakibul Hasan, head of RAB-3, on Monday.

Alongside Libya, Kamal was involved in trafficking people to the Middle Eastern countries.  As he is also a tiles contractor, he came in touch with many poor workers, whom he lured to go to Libya for better wages, the RAB official added.

"He lured them citing that there is a lot of demand for tiles' workers in Libya. You can earn Tk500 to Tk600 a day here but if you go to Libya you can easily earn Tk5,000 to Tk6,000 a day," Colonel Rakibul Hasan said.

The RAB official said during the preliminary interrogation, Kamal told them that a person has to pay Tk4-5 lakh before leaving for Libya and the remaining Tk4 lakh after reaching the destination. In such a trap, he sent the workers abroad.

After the workers reached Libya, members of other trafficking gangs stationed there held them hostage, demanded extra money and even physically abused them.  The video of the torture was sent to the families of the victims to pay ransom, the RAB official added.

The RAB official said, "Kamal was the ringleader of a gang involved in the recent brutal massacre of 26 Bangladeshis on May 26 in the Libyan city of Mizdah. He was arrested in the morning from Shahjadpur in the capital's Gulshan area."