Human trafficker killed in shootout with police in Bangladesh

A wanted Bangladeshi human trafficker was killed today in a shootout with police in the southeastern coastlines of the country.
Belal Hossain, 45, was killed in a "gunfight" as a squad of the law enforcement agency raided a village in Cox's Bazar on secret information that he was hiding there, police said.
"Belal and his accomplices fired gunshots sensing our presence and we retaliated when he died ...Two of our policemen were also wounded in the gunfight," a police official said.
He said a manhunt was underway to track down Hossain as he was wanted in six cases while officials earlier said police yesterday arrested three suspected human traffickers from nearby Teknaf, a town near the border with Myanmar.

Bangladesh launched a crackdown against slave traders after hundreds of trafficking victims were held hostage and killed or rescued in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand recently.
The incident occurred days after four boats carrying some 2,000 migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar were rescued off the coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia in latest such incident.
UN refugee agency UNHCR estimated as many as 25,000 Bangladeshi and Rohingyas boarded rickety traffickers' boats to escape poverty in the first three months of 2015 alone while religious persecution was an added major factor for the Rohingyas to opt for the uncertain missions.