More than 0.12 million job-seekers were smuggled out of the country in last one year through sea routes. Human traffickers, many of them are also hundi traders, have found the sea route the easiest and safest way of carrying out their nefarious activities, officials concerned have claimed.
On an average, ten thousand people were trafficked to Malaysia and Thailand from Cox's Bazar every month, they said, adding that a number of human traffickers got involved in money laundering or 'hundi' business.
According to the law enforcement agencies, each person needs from Tk 0.3 million to Tk 0.4 million to go to Malaysia legally, but human traffickers take only Tk 50,000-Tk 60,000 from each person.
"We have noticed that a good number of human traffickers get involved in money laundering or hundi business," an official of the district intelligence office of Cox's Bazar told the FE.
He said 650 local and more than 11 foreign human traffickers as well as 30 money launderers are engaged in human trafficking.
Human traffickers offer unemployed youths lucrative jobs in Malaysia and Thailand and then smuggle them out to those countries, he said.
Cox's Bazar police station data showed that after conducting drives in different parts of Cox's Bazar and Chittagong, the law enforcement agencies, including Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Ukhia police, arrested over 5,000 people in last eight months while they were going to Malaysia and Thailand illegally.
They found that people were being trafficked to Malaysia and Thailand through 60 coastal points in Cox's Bazar, including Kutubdia, Katabunia, Hariakhali, Badamtoli, Choangkhali, Jhaubagan, Inani, Mankhali, Rejubreez, Khonarpara and Septkhali.
Intelligence officials said people are smuggled out of the country by trawlers and boats.
"We have observed that the winter season is peak time for human trafficking to Malaysia and Thailand due to fair weather," said an official of the Coast Guard in Cox's Bazar.
To get better jobs abroad, job-seekers are risking their life while travelling by trawlers or boats, he said, adding that the sea has become a safe route for human traffickers.
Ashraful Islam, special superintendent of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said many Bangladeshi youths want to go abroad for getting new job with handsome salary. "But they take help from traffickers as they cannot easily get visa."
To combat human trafficking, he said, a special wing of the Bangladesh Police along with other law enforcement agencies are conducting drives in costal areas.
Dr Zia Rahman, chairman of criminology department at Dhaka University, said a large number of unemployed youths want to go abroad in a bid to make them financially solvent.
Many people take help from human traffickers because of complexities in visa processing, he said, adding that everyone wants a good job abroad, so the government should negotiate with several other countries aiming to send more people to those countries legally.
He stressed the need for resolving the issue of unemployment and said employment generation can itself halve the problem.
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