Six days after the disappearance of three female college students from the capital’s Pallabi area, Rab yesterday found them at Abdullahpur’s Beribadh.

The three teens had planned to go to Japan by sea with the help of a 24-year-old woman named Hafsa Chowdhury, but eventually decided against it, Rapid Action Battalion said in a press release.

For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel.

“The girls went to Cox’s Bazar instead. A Rab team went there looking for them, [but] they returned to Dhaka’s Abdullahpur area this [Wednesday] morning. Rab members rescued the girls from Beribadh area,” said Mozammel Haque, commanding officer of Rab-4, in the press release.

The three girls, aged around 15-16, are students of colleges in Mirpur.

The girls were in police custody yesterday and were to be handed over to their guardians following legal procedures, the Rab-4 commanding officer told media.

In the press release, Rab said the three students wanted to lead independent lives, of which their families disapproved.

They also lost interest in studies amid the Covid-19 pandemic and became interested in Japanese culture, the press release said.

When their families forced them to abide by social and religious values, they left home.

The Rab CO said the three girls told them that a woman named Hafsa Chowdhury helped them go to Cox’s Bazar.

According to Rab, they met Hafsa in the capital’s Diabari and later connected with her through Facebook, eventually becoming interested in going to Japan.

On September 30, the three girls left home in the morning without informing their families. They reached Cox’s Bazar with the help of two of Hafsa’s associates and checked into a hotel in the seaside town’s Kolatoli area on October 1.

The Daily Star has knowledge of the details of their journey, but is refraining from publicising it on ethical grounds.

On October 2, when they went out to the beach, two men associated with Hafsa took the gold jewellery and some of the cash the girls had in their possession. The girls were frightened by this and stayed inside the hotel till October 5, said the Rab press release.

When they sensed Rab members’ presence in the hotel area, they got on a bus on October 5 around 9:00pm and returned to Dhaka, Rab said.

A Rab team found them around 4:30am at Abdullahpur’s Beribadh area.

Rab said they are trying to identify Hafsa and the four men the girls met in Amin Bazar and Cox’s Bazar.

On September 30, the three friends left home without saying anything to their families.

The elder sister of one of the teenagers filed a case with Pallabi Police Station, under the Women and Child Repression Prevention Act, against 10 people on October 2, naming four.

One of the girls took Tk 6 lakh in cash, another took 2.5 tola of gold ornaments and the other took Tk 75,000. They also took their SSC certificates, birth certificates and several mobile phones from their houses, Parvez Islam, officer-in-charge of Pallabi Police Station, told media on October 3.

Rab said they could recover Tk 5 lakh from the girls as they had left it in the hotel when they went to the beach in Cox’s Bazar.

Pallabi police on October 3 arrested four people in connection with the case lodged by the sister of one of the girls.

Rokibullah, 20, was among the four arrestees and was placed on a two-day remand the same day, the OC said, adding that the remand hearings of three other arrestees would be held after determining their ages.

Rokibullah was sent to jail by a court yesterday, said the OC.

One of the arrestees was associated with Hafsa, Rab CO Mozammel Haque said.   



Three Missing Teens: Rab finds them after their Cox’s Bazar trip
Source: Trend Viral Philippines