By Sumi Khan

Dhaka, Aug 7 (IANS): The Bangladesh police's elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the Detective Branch (DB) arrested eight members of two human trafficking rings in separate drives in the capital city of Dhaka.

According to the RAB, the arrests took place on Wednesday night in Dhaka's Hatirjheel and Paltan areas.

The DB is currently trying to locate is a Libyan national named Sameer Ahmed Omar Fara, deemed to be the mastermind.

On June 6, a case was filed against 27 people under the Prevention of Human Trafficking and Anti-Terrorism Act.

The Libyan national has been sending Bangladeshis illegally to Libya since 2010 with the help of another accused, Abdul Gofran's Paltan-based manpower recruiting agency named Sufi International Limited, said RAB-3 Commanding Officer Lt Col Rakibul Hasan.

RAB officials said that they would interrogate the suspects and further investigate the matter to find out if there were any more people involved.

Meanwhile, a DB team arrested two most wanted human traffickers named Monir Hossain and Selim Sikder from Jatrabari area of the Capital.

DB Deputy Commissioner Mashiur Rahman told IANS that the two mean were the prime accused in a human trafficking case filed with Motijheel police station last June.

"Monir mostly targets the poor people in Shariatpur, Madaripur, Feni, and Tangail. This trafficking ring used to charge a person seeking to go abroad Tk4 lakh to Tk5 lakh.

"Monir, who is one of the leaders of the ring, went to Libya to work for a construction company but soon allied himself with a Libyan militia and local police to carry out his illegal deeds," said the police official.

"Later, with their help, he directly conducted trafficking camps in different places of Libya.

"Monir so far has sent hundreds of people to Libya through Shadhin Travels, run by two of his accomplices named Sharif and Kabir," he added.

This ring also used to extort money from the victims' families.