Three tourists have been freed four hours after their abduction in Khagrachari and tourist spot Sajek has been announced off limits to tourists amid sectarian tension.
Rangamati deputy commissioner announced on Tuesday that the tourist centres at Sajek would remain closed and no tourist would be allowed to Sajek in order to avoid any untoward situation for the next three days from today (Wednesday).聽聽
Around 1,500 tourists left Sajek on Tuesday in the vehicles of law enforcement agencies after being stuck for four days because of the deadly violence in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
In the abduction incident, the victims are identified as SM Nahed Uzzaman and Mamun Fakir, both residents of Nagarkanda upazila in Faridpur and their car driver. None of the abductors were arrested yet.
The victims told reporters at the office of Khagrachari district superintendent of police Md Arefin Jewel that they were going to Khagrachari from Sajek in Rangmati district in their car on Tuesday morning.
When they reached Jamtali area under Dighinala upazila in Khagrachari around 9:30am, some people blocked the road and took them in a car to a nearby area, they said.
The abductors took away their mobile phones and national identity cards, beat them and demanded Tk 50 lakh in ransom. At one stage, they agreed to accept Tk聽20 lakh and called one of their relatives, they said.
Then the victims鈥� family members contacted Khagrachari district superintendent of police Arefin Jewel who talked to one of the victims.
After seeing the name of the police district chief in true caller, the abductors then fled around 1:30pm leaving the three.聽
The victims alleged that the abduction was pre-planned as the abductors knew in which resort they had stayed in Sajek and added that they would file a case.
The superintendent of police said that they would investigate the incident and take action after the case is filed.
At a press conference held at his office followed by an emergency meeting, Rangamati deputy commissioner Mohammad Mosaraf Hossain Khan said that the tourists would be allowed to Sajek when the situation would improve.聽聽
Violence rocked the Chiittagong Hill Tracts between September 19 and 23, leading to the deaths of four ethnic minority people and vandalism and burning of about 200 establishments, including houses, shops, and Buddhist temples.