Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel early yesterday rescued 26 men while they were being trafficked to Malaysia and arrested three members of the trafficking syndicate.
Acting on a tip off, a team of Rab-7 at about 12:20am conducted a drive in Chinese Ghat area of Naval Academy road under Patenga Police Station and arrested the traffickers who were about to leave for Malaysia by ship with the men to be trafficked.
Lt Col Md Anwar Latif khan, commander of Rab-7, said they got many names from the arrestees during primary interrogation and are now investigating and conducting drives to arrest the traffickers and wipe out the syndicate.
Describing the procedure, one of the three arrested members said their network is spread out all over the country.
Their partners in different districts lure people with the promise of sending them to Malaysia and demand money in return, he said adding that they also promise to provide the men with passports and necessary documents.
The men are then passed onto another trafficker who takes them to a ship leaving for Thailand where their cohorts would eventually take the men to Malaysia, he said.
Rab Commander Latif said they were in the process of handing over the arrestees and the 26 men to Patenga police.