MOHAMMAD JAMIL KHAN

Libya’s “game ghar”, an establishment where migrants are tortured and extorted, is operated by the father, wife and sister-in-law of a transnational trafficking syndicate. They were coordinating the activities on the Bangladesh end, like trapping migrants and collecting ransom money from the victims’ families.

As the ringleader, Sharif Hosen managed to take away his second wife Sumona Sumi to Libya, following a drive by law enforcers. His father Anowar Hosain has now taken over the syndicate activities in Bangladesh.

From around 40 agents of the syndicate in Bangladesh, Anowar has recently collected around Tk 70 lakh and then disappeared.

The human trafficking wing of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit disclosed the findings to this correspondent recently, following the arrest of Sharif’s sister-in-law Taznahar Rikta.

Rikta, also a member of the syndicate, has given a confessional statement before court on December 6.

Seven members of the syndicate have been arrested so far.

“We are now conducting a drive to trace Anowar and other agents of the syndicate’s hideout,” ADC Tohidul Islam of the CTTC unit, told this correspondent.

The syndicate members used to trap people by promising to send them to Europe -- mainly from Madaripur, Shariatpur, Cumilla, Lakshmipur, and Noakhali.

Syndicate members used to charge each person around Tk 9.5 lakh. Besides, they collect another hefty payment as ransom after the migrants reach Libya.

The group confines them to a place called “game ghar”, and tortures them until the ransom is paid, said, investigators.

“They still have several dozens of people confined there. We are getting complaints from different districts of the country often,” said ADC Tohidul, citing investigation findings.

In the confession, Rikta said in December last year, she got married to Sharif’s brother-in-lawAbdur Rahman.

A month later, Rahman went to Italy and she started living alone in her in-law’s house.

Her sister-in-law Sumi, who fled away from Bangladesh to Libya last month, used to receive different fortune seekers’ passports and sent them to Libya to her husband Sharif, said Rikta in the confession.

Once the migrants reached Libya, they used to torture them, capture videos, and then used to show those clips to their families and then demand ransom for the release, said court sources quoting Rikta.

“We have got some names of those who were responsible for collecting the ransom -- Kamal, Sohel, Kohinur -- from Rikta’s statement and we are now verifying their role,” said ADC Tohidul.

Investigators also found out that Sharif’s first wife Halima Begum was also involved in the activities. Halima was living with him in Libya.

“After Sumi reached Libya last month, the couple killed Halima out of a suspected internal conflict. The death was later framed as a result of a heart attack,” said a high official of CTTC, requesting anonymity.