His organisation sends Bangladeshis out of the country by utilising fake passports, Hasan Fakir, a core member of a Dhaka-based manpower-trafficking syndicate, recently confessed. Fakir, who runs a labour-recruitment agency, was arrested by the authorities on 3 June. He was accused of illegally sending one Basir Uddin to Malaysia, and later demanding ransom from Basir's family in exchange for his release from the syndicate's custody.
As a 35-year-old betel-leaf-seller, it had become increasingly difficult for Basir to support an extended family that consisted of his parents, his wife and two children, and the families of three of his brothers. Basir made up his mind to go to Malaysia in May, after having been convinced by a neighbour, Idris Ali, that doing so could allow him at long last to provide his family with financial security. Idris offered to send Basir to Malaysia for an initial payment of BDT 50,000 (USD 725) and another BDT 20,000 after he began earning in Malaysia. After a verbal agreement, on 17 May Basir gave Idris BDT 52,000 along with his passport; the following day, Idris arranged Basir's flight to Malaysia. In his excitement, Basir did not bother to ask how the arrangements had been managed so quickly, nor the nature of the job awaiting him. At the Kuala Lumpur airport, he was received by a man named Lokman, a member of a Malaysian counterpart to Fakir's unnamed recruiting agency.
Two days after the initial payment was made, Lokman called Basir's family members and asked them for the remaining BDT 20,000. Basir's elder brother, Rajab Ali, recalls that Lokman warned that unless the money was paid, Basir would not get a job. Following the conversation, Rajab and several senior members of Basir's village arranged for the money to be transferred to Lokman. Less than a week later, on 25 May, Lokman called again. "Forget about the money you paid earlier," he said, according to Rajab. "You have to pay another 100,000 taka to my brother, Hasan Fakir, by 31 May. Otherwise, your brother will be cut to pieces and fed to a dog." In a panic, the family turned to the police.
On 3 June, in an undercover operation, the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) captured Hasan Fakir and one of his associates in Dhaka. In custody, Fakir confessed that he had sent Basir to Malaysia on a fake passport with just a two-day transit visa. In early July, the Dhaka authorities had yet to make progress in rescuing Basir. Meanwhile, Hasan and an accomplice named Mojibar Mridha were released on bail just four days after their arrest. Basir, meanwhile, remained within their grasp in Malaysia.