The arrest of the ringleader of a human trafficking gang along with two of his accomplices has exposed yet another raw sore of social decadence. Here is a network spread reportedly over three countries of South Asia - Bangladesh, India and Pakistan - and engaged in supplying girls to hotels in Dubai for forced flesh trade. Azam Khan, the kingpin, has confessed to have been engaged in trafficking of girls to three and four star hotels for sex work over the past seven years. With eight of his associates and about 50 brokers his gang lures girls aged between 18-20 into their trap with promise of jobs in Dubai for remuneration of upto Tk 50,000 a month. Traffickers in India and Pakistan work in cooperation with each other in a manner that hardly arouses suspicion of the immigration officers at the airports of the respective countries. Indian and Pakistani girls are also said to be collected in the same manner for the same purpose. In Dubai, the gang has its facilitators.
Of late nabbing of criminals committing horrendous crimes is an indication that the pandemic could not deter these fiends from doing what they are used to. In fact some of their evil acts remind one of the Bangla proverb, 'some famish while others feast'. In fact, the majority of the populations everywhere on this planet are in distress, some are fighting for their lives, others are becoming helpless witness to deaths of their near and dear ones. But undeterred, the criminals are looking for every opportunity to go about their heinous ways in quest for making unearned money. True, some have been involved for a long time in their infamous trade, taking advantage of poverty and unemployment of young men and women. Two batches of youths from Bangladesh aspiring for employment in European countries were held by the police in Macedonia during trafficking recently.
Human trafficking is an old trade and those engaged in this obnoxious trade cannot continue the crime without cooperation of agents or patrons in the recipient countries. The arrest of a Bangladesh MP (member of parliament) in Kuwait and his alleged bribing of a high military official there is a proof of how such rots set in societies of both supplying and recipient countries. The clandestine trade of human trafficking is a curse on human civilization.
Forcing girls into sex work, it is a gross violation of human rights and all legal parameters. It is an aberration of social and legal contracts all individuals are bound to respect under the international covenants. Those who force unsuspecting girls and women into such human degradation ruin their lives. These monsters are enemies of the people. Busting of one such criminal den is indeed a great achievement on the part of the security agencies here. They are now trying to take help of the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) in order to bring kingpins and members of the gangs operating in India, Pakistan and Dubai to justice. Let the effort triumph in setting an example for dismantling such an international network of criminals.