Bandarban: Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies, including the army and the police, have closed border points near Burma and India to prevent kidnappers from taking abducted Bangladeshis out of the country, said an official report.
Bandarban police said that the law enforcement agencies have been alerted to prevent the abductors from taking the kidnap victims to either India or Burma.
OnJanuary 24 night, nine Bangladeshi tribal people were abducted by an armed group from Roangchhari Township in Bandarban, in the southern Chittagong Hill Tract.
Some local residents are suspected to have colaborated with the Democratic Party of Arakan to kidnap the nine people for ransom.
According to a local source, the abductors demanded 500,000 Taka from the family members of victims as ransom for their release, but the police have not confirmed this.
A local source said that members of the police and security forces on the border have started extensive combing operations to rescue the nine abductees after closing border points.
Police official said the DPA had previously kidnapped and ttaken three tribal leaders to the state of Mizoram in northeast India on December 24. They later released the three men after taking 300,000 Taka as ransom.
This time it is suspected that the abductors may take the people to the border areas of India or Burma outside Bangladesh, so law enforcement agencies have to block the border points in order to rescue them from inside Bangladesh territory, the police official added.