Authorities in Bangladesh have arrested four people who were involved in the incidents of extortion and abduction by impersonating as members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite paramilitary force, that had been recently sanctioned by the US for alleged human rights violations.

The crackdown came after incidents of imposters posing as feared RAB troopers were growing across the country.

On Friday last week, Sad Mua, a transgender beauty blogger, lodged a police complaint with Dhaka Metropolitan Police, claiming she had been blackmailed and extorted for the last two years by three people who were claiming to be from the RAB. In her complaint, she also alleged that she was held captive by them who took compromising photos and videos.

Following her complaints, RAB officials arrested the three accused from Dhaka's Farmgate and Mohakhali areas on Sunday, reported The Daily Star. Police also recovered a walkie-talkie, toy guns, and fake uniforms from the trio who police said were also members of an organized crime gang.

"They have been targeting people from different walks of life for two years. They tortured them and extorted money -- threatening to leak their photos and videos, that they captured, on social media," Khandaker Al Moin, the director of the media wing of the RAB, said in a press conference on Sunday.

In a similar operation, RAB officials arrested another imposter on Sunday from Cox's Bazaar, a beach town in the country’s southeastern region, where he was extorting money from shops. Fake Identity cards, pistols, were also recovered from them.

Formed in 2004 to tackle growing organized crimes, drug trafficking, and domestic terrorism, the RAB has been accused of gross rights violations, extra-judicial killings, and abuse. Last year in December, the US government sanctioned seven of its serving and retired officials. [ Read More]

Recently, rights groups have written a joint letter to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, demanding a ban on the deployment of RAB units in UN peacekeeping missions. [Read More]

(SAM)