Bangladesh Cracks Down on Human Trafficking

A Bangladeshi police officer said three human traffickers were arrested Monday after four were killed in recent days and more than 100 were arrested in recent months, as the poverty-stricken country cracks down on people smuggling amid an Asia-wide crisis. There has been a huge increase in refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar drifting on boats to Malaysia and Indonesia in recent days after Thailand, usually the initial destination in the people smuggling network, announced its own crackdown on trafficking. Three traffickers, accused of smuggling thousands of people, were arrested in a raid in the southern Bangladeshi coastal town of Teknaf in the Cox's Bazar district, close to the border with Myanmar.