People smuggling by sea only option

People are being smuggled out of the country by sea as land and air routes are shut, Bangladesh police officials claim. Human traffickers are increasingly towing people out to sea as trafficking by land and air has stopped because of government and police efforts, claimed a top police official. Additional Inspector General of Police Md Mokhlesur Rahman has said three cells were working to tackle people smuggling in the country. He made the assertion at a programme in Dhaka on inter-country police cooperation to prevent people trafficking and smuggling. Rahman’s comment came amid reports of thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, stranded at sea in South East Asia. “People earlier used to be smuggled out mostly by land and air,” he said. “But the trend of trafficking people by river and sea routes increased after smuggling through land and air routes stopped.” Thousands of Myanmar Rohingyas are boarding traffickers’ boats to flee persecution and many Bangladeshis are joining them for better fortune abroad. About 25,000 Rohingyas and Bangladeshis boarded rickety boats in the first three months of 2015, twice as many during the same period last year, the UNHCR said. Bangladesh has stepped up operations against traffickers. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last month approved a huge project to strengthen the coastguards to curb people smuggling on its shores. The police officer said they arrested about 3,500 suspected human traffickers and eight of them had been sentenced to death by court, according to a news agency.