Dhaka: Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested eight suspected members of an international human smuggling gang from different areas of Dhaka in a drive from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning.

The arrested are Mohammad Matin Mian, Babu, Mohammad Abul Hossain, Mohammad Nur Islam, Mohammad Rezaul Karim Sohel, Mohammad Tayyab Ali, Mohammad Billal Hossain, and Mohammad Abul Hossain.

Briefing journalists at the RAB headquarters, RAB director (Legal and Media Wing) Commander Mufti Mohammad Khan said a team of RAB 3 conducted a drive at Insaf Hotel in Kamalapur area of Dhaka and arrested Matin and Babu with some fake visas of different countries at about 5:00pm on Sunday.

Later, based on the information gleaned from the detained during the primary interrogation, the law enforcers conducted simultaneous drives in different areas of the capital and arrested six other suspected members of the human trafficking gang from New Paltan area of Dhaka.

The RAB members also recovered about 3,000 fake visas of different countries, including Libya, Iraq, Egypt, Mozambique and Singapore, about 700 passports and fake seals for forging immigration documents from their possession.

Commander Mufti Mohammad Khan said the members of the human trafficking gang have long been forging visas and immigration documents and selling those through their agents all across the country.

The gang have also been involved in taking people to Nepal with false promise to send them to Malaysia and taking ransom money from the family members of the victims for their release, he added.