An unidentified armed group reportedly kidnapped 26 workers from remote rubber plantations in Murungjhiri area of Lama upazila in Bandarban district in early hours of Sunday.
The incident took place at about 1:00am on Sunday and an armed group in the hill district was suspected to have involved in the kidnapping, said Lama police station officer-in-charge Shahadat Hossain.
鈥楳embers of the law enforcement agencies and the Bangladesh Army have already launched a rescue operation,鈥� the OC said, adding that details would be known after conducting the operation.
Police have identified 20 out of 26 workers.
The 20 identified victims are Faruk, 26, Ayub Ali, 26, Siddiq, 40, Abdul Khaleq, 20, Abdul Majed, 17, Monirul Islam, 30, Ziaur Rahman, 45, Mobarak, 25, Harun, 30, Ramiz Uddin, 32, Syed Nur, 28, Kayser, 38, Monir Hossain, 35, Imran, 17, Manjurul, 30, Afsar Ali, 25, Khairul Amin, 30, Abu Bakkar, 28, Razzak, 33, and Mobin, 25.
The OC said that the kidnappers demanded ransom for the release of the abducted workers over phone.
