Bangladesh ranks 7th in abductions

Bangladesh has been ranked seventh among 10 countries where abductions are most frequent.

The ranking was published by Control Risks, a UK-based consulting firm specialising in political, integrity and security risk.

Earlier in the day, several international media reported the ranking on abduction where Bangladesh was shown on eighth spot. Dhaka Tribune obtained a copy of the Control Risks report in the evening in which Bangladesh is shown on seventh spot of the ranking.

India ranked second only to Mexico on the list of kidnapping hotspots ahead of Pakistan, Iraq and Nigeria.

Following the Control Risks report, Bangladesh Police headquarters issued a statement on Monday afternoon. In the statement, police protested the statistics and said procedure that had used for making the ranking was not properly maintained by the organisation.

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Police termed the report conflicting with the reports that were published earlier of the year by many leading risk assessment based organisations of the world.

In the statement, police gave the example of the reports published by London-based organisation Help Build Peace, Australian government report titled ‘Kidnapping Threat Worldwide’, London-based organisations Red 24 and Nation Master.

Police claimed that the afforested organisations had not identified Bangladesh as the abduction risk prone country.

A total of 88 people were abducted by law enforcement officials in Bangladesh in 2014, according to the annual report of human rights watchdog Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK).

Among the victims, 11 are ruling Awami League affiliated, 18 are leaders and activists of opposition party BNP, three are Jamaat-e-Islami activists while 14 are businessmen and nine are service holders.

Of them, 12 were found alive, two found in jail while 23 of them found dead. A large number of people are still missing.

Source: Dhaka Tribune