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26 Rubber Workers Abducted in Bandarban; Ransom Demanded

Greenwatch Desk Crime 2025-02-17, 8:22am

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A group of armed assailants abducted 26 workers from rubber plantations in the remote Murungjhiri area of Fasiakhali in Lama upazila, Bandarban, on Sunday morning.


According to Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Shahadat Hossain of the Lama Police Station, the abduction took place around 10:30 a.m. when a group of armed miscreants raided several rubber plantations in Ward No. 1 of Fasiakhali union. The assailants held the workers at gunpoint and forcibly took them away.

Plantation owners have identified 20 of the 26 abducted workers. The confirmed names include: Md Faruk (26), Ayub Ali (26), Md Siddiq (40), Abdul Khalek (20), Abdul Majed (17), Monirul Islam (30), Ziaur Rahman (45), Md Mobarak (25), Md Harun (30), Romiz Uddin (32), Syed Nur (28), Md Kaysar (38), Monir Hossain (35), Md Imran (17), Md Manjurul (30), Abshar Ali (25), Khairul Amin (30), Abu Bakkar (28), Abdur Razzak (33), and Md Mobin (25). The identities of the remaining six workers are still being verified.

Md Shahjahan, a plantation owner in Murungjhiri, confirmed that the abductions took place across six plantations, with 12 workers kidnapped from his own property. In the afternoon, the kidnappers made contact, using a phone belonging to one of the kidnapped workers. They demanded a ransom of Tk 50,000 per worker, totaling Tk 600,000 for the release of the 12 workers from his plantation alone.

OC Shahadat Hossain has confirmed that law enforcement, including both police and military personnel, have launched a coordinated rescue operation to locate the workers and apprehend the criminals. He suspects the involvement of armed groups based in the hilly regions, who were also implicated in a similar abduction earlier this month in Sarai Union's Bamukhali area, where tobacco field workers were abducted.

The authorities are working diligently to resolve the crisis and ensure the safe return of the workers.