Three individuals, including two Chinese nationals, have been arrested in connection with a suspected women trafficking network involving fake marriages.
The arrests were made by the Airport Armed Police Battalion (APBn) following a trafficking attempt involving a 19-year-old woman from Gaibandha.
The two Chinese nationals—Hun Junjun (30) and Zhang Leiji (54)—were detained at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, while a Bangladeshi accomplice, Nayan Ali (30), was apprehended from the Bashundhara residential area during a coordinated operation conducted between late Monday night and Tuesday.
According to police officials, the young woman filed a complaint stating that the two foreign men were attempting to traffic her to China.
Based on her account, the APBn launched an operation led by Assistant Police Superintendent Fawzul Kabir Moeen and brought the suspects in for questioning.
The subsequent interrogation revealed the existence of a trafficking ring operating from a house in Bashundhara, where both foreign and local traffickers had been staying.
A follow-up raid led to the arrest of Nayan Ali, while other members managed to escape. Crucial evidence related to the trafficking operation was recovered from the location.
Authorities stated that the Chinese suspects had arrived in Bangladesh a year ago and had ties to both local and international trafficking syndicates.
With assistance from the Bangladeshi accomplice, they lured the victim with promises and had her documents, including a passport, prepared using a fake address. She was then forced into a fraudulent marriage with Hun Junjun with a dowry agreement of one million Bangladeshi taka. The second Chinese national and Nayan Ali facilitated the marriage.
Without her consent, the victim was taken to the airport with a pre-booked flight ticket to China. A case under the Human Trafficking Prevention and Suppression Act has been filed by the victim’s mother.
This marks the second recent incident of a Chinese national being arrested at the Dhaka airport for trafficking-related offenses.
Authorities have noted a troubling trend where trafficking rings, with help from local agents, target uneducated and impoverished women from rural areas for such schemes.
