Police yesterday arrested six people for their alleged involvement in trafficking people by a trawler that sank in the Bay on Tuesday.
Of the arrestees, four -- Mohammad Selim and Korban Ali, of Moheskhali upazila in Cox's Bazar; Abdullah, of Cox's Bazar town; and Shahid Ullah, of Teknaf -- were on the trawler when it capsized.
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On information from the four, police arrested Mohammad Rashid and Mohammad Sharif, both Rohingyas, from Balukhali refugee camp in Ukhiya.
All six of them were shown arrested in a trafficking case that was filed against 24 named and 10 to 15 unnamed people on Tuesday night, said Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station.
Hossein Mubarak, sub-inspector of Baharchhara Investigation Outpost, filed the case. Police were trying to arrest the rest of the accused, the OC said.
On Tuesday morning, at least four people, including a child, died after a Malaysia-bound trawler sunk off the coast of Teknaf, Cox's Bazar.
According to some survivors, the refugees were being trafficked to Malaysia by a local syndicate.
The bodies of three women and a child, aged four or five, all of whom were Rohingyas, were recovered. Some 45 people were rescued, of whom four were Bangladeshis and involved with a trafficking syndicate.
According to the first information report (FIR), the mastermind of the trafficking syndicate is Shahid Ullah, who is a resident of the Sabrang union in Teknaf.
OC Hafizur said they sent the victims to the refugee camps after verifying their identity.
Meanwhile, no new information has been found regarding the missing people.
The rescued said there were at least a hundred people on the trawler, although the exact figure could not be known.
One of the witnesses, Shah Alam, 48, said the trawler was carrying not less than hundred people.
