30 irregular migrants from Bangladesh and Africa were massacred by human traffickers in Libya on May 28. These migrants were exploited by local traffickers.
Bangladesh police have arrested more than 50 people accused of extorting money from people on false promises of jobs overseas, in a major crackdown on human trafficking after 30 migrant workers were murdered in Libya.
According to the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported, the series of arrests began after the migrants, including 26 Bangladeshis, were abducted and killed by traffickers in the strife-torn north African nation, at the end of May.
The carnage
The group of 42 migrants, including 38 Bangladeshis, was held captive in a trafficking warehouse in Mizdah, around 180 kilometres from the Libyan capital Tripoli, the Bangladesh Embassy in Libya said, quoting one of the survivors of the carnage.
The survivor said that they had paid between $8,000 and $10,000 to the traffickers to reach Europe through Libya. However, as the trafficking gang began torturing them to extort more money, the hostages attacked and killed one of the traffickers. In retaliation, the gang opened fire on them killing 30 and injuring 12.
The Libyan government has issued arrest warrants for suspects following the deaths.
Bangladesh arrests
The arrests in Bangladesh were mostly made in Dhaka, the capital, and included a ringleader who sent about 400 Bangladeshis to Libya illegally in the last decade, police said.
"(Arresting traffickers) is a part of the regular duty of Bangladesh Police but obviously this is the strongest operation against traffickers in recent times," Sohel Rana, spokesman of the Bangladesh Police said on Friday.
He said most of the accused were being charged under a 2012 law that criminalised trafficking in Bangladesh with penalties ranging from five years to life imprisonment.
Last week, Dhaka Tribune daily newspaper reported the arrest of as many as 52 suspected human traffickers responsible for sending the Bangladeshis who were killed in Libya. One of them who lived in Libya for 13 years is said to be the owner of 2 trafficking camps in the African country.
According to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, more than 2 million irregular migrants from different Asian and African countries have entered Europe through the Mediterranean Sea since 2014.
SOURCE: Vatican News
