Recently, Dhaka Police have said that at least eleven members of the gang involved in the sex trafficking of women from Bangladesh to its neighboring country India have been arrested. This gang has been using the social media platform TikTok to lure the girls.
Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) unit said, “The gang’s alleged ringleader Rafizul Islam Ridoy, whose nickname is TikTok Ridoy, use to lure young girls from TikTok and other social media platforms by promising them to make TikTok models.”
According to the statement by RAB, instead of making them model, the victims were smuggled into southern India and were forced into sex work.
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The accused were arrested after a video went viral on social media in late May. In the video, a young girl was brutally assaulted by five to six men, this cruel video prompt an investigation into the gang.
Within a week all the accused were arrested by the Bengaluru police.
About the latest arrest, Dhaka Police Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Shahidullah said that on Monday two men were arrested in a south-western border district in Bangladesh for trafficking of young girls aged between 18-22 years.
Deputy Commissioner said to a news agency, “One of them has told us that he has sent more than 1,000 women to India.”
He also said that these types of crimes had been increased in the country since 2019 when TikTok became popular in Bangladesh. These gangs draw the attention of young girls from low-income families.
Also Read: Transnational gang behind trafficking young Bangladeshi girls: Dhaka Police
According to the RAB, the trafficking gang first adds the target in the Facebook Group of TikTok users and later traffic them to India in the name of high-paid jobs. Firstly, women are kept in a safe house at the border districts of Bangladesh and then transported to India through the unfenced borders.
The Anti-trafficking activists have identified Bengaluru as a human trafficking hub. Last year, it was found that traffickers brought women and young girls from Bangladesh and forced them to work into sex work, pornography, or bonded labour.
Police added that so far, a total of 11 people have been arrested, out of which nine were arrested from Bangladesh and two of them were found in Bengaluru, India.
This investigation is a joint project of the police of both countries – Bangladesh police and Bengaluru Police.
Also Read: Viral Rape Video: Bangladeshi TikTok star detained in India for trafficking more than 1500 women
Bengaluru police commissioner Kamal Pant said that five additional people have been arrested and accused of rape and sexual assault.
These all arrested accused belongs to Bangladesh, confirms police from both the countries.