DHAKA, 14 April 2004 — Elite commandos have rescued seven boys before they could be trafficked to the Middle East as camel jockeys.
The Rapid Action Battalion also arrested three suspected child traffickers including the ringleader.
An RAB team rescued the boys and made the arrests at a house at Kakrail in Dhaka in a four-hour operation that also netted a large number of passports, photographs of children and women, official seals and other documents.
The children came from Bianibazar, Comilla.
“My parents allowed me to go with” the traffickers “so I could study in London,” one of the boys, Zakaria Ahmed, told journalists at Ramna police station yesterday.
“We found out about the racket two days ago and started investigation,” said Sgt. Mosiur Rahman, who took part in the raid.
The RAB team recovered old children’s and women’s clothes in the house, suggesting this was a long-standing racket.
“The children rescued this time were probably to be taken to the Middle East to be used as camel jockey,” said Mahbubur Rahman of Ramna police station.
The owner of the building said the suspects rented the flat six months ago. “They used to bring boys to the flat who were never seen again,” he added.
But the suspected ringleader told journalists the boys were being sent to their relatives in London. “Their parents handed them over to us. This was the first time I was going to send children abroad,” he added.
Bangladesh earlier banned recruitment of children for the United Arab Emirates following protests by human rights groups over the deaths of a number of Bangladeshi children employed as camel jockeys in Dubai.
The UAE government has banned the use of children as jockeys.
