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The Bangladesh Coast Guard and the police rescued at least 84 Rohingya refugees in separate drives in Cox's Bazar while they were being trafficked by boat to Malaysia on early Saturday.
Five suspected members of a human trafficking ring were arrested by law enforcers in the process.
The drives were conducted on the southern beach on Saint Martin's Island and Pekua Upazila's Ujantia Karimdad Mia Ghat in the early hours of Saturday.
"A Coast Guard team conducted a raid on a tip about a gang of human traffickers smuggling some people to Malaysia by boat," Teknaf Coast Guard Station Commander Lt Faizul Islam Mondol said, reports bdnews24.com.
Among the rescued Rohingya refugees, including children, 10 were male and seven female.
Over 1 million Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh in an effort to escape persecution in their homeland in Myanmar's Rakhine stat. They are currently being sheltered at various refugee camps in Cox's Bazar.
The 17 rescued Rohingyas and the five detained agents were handed over to the Teknaf Police, said the Coast Guard official.
"A case will be started against the traffickers. The Rohingya refugees will be produced in court before being sent to their respective camps," said Teknaf Police OC Pradip Kumar Das.
The other 67 Rohingyas were detained from Pekua's Ujantia Karimdad Mia Ghat, said the police.
Pekua Police OC Md Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan said, a police team was dispatched to the spot on information that numerous people had gathered there in order to travel Malaysia by sea.
"The traffickers fled upon the arrival of the police but 67 Rohingyas were rescued. Of them, 21 were men, 31 women and 15 were children."
Citing the accounts of the Rohingyas, the OC said, "They admitted that they had assembled there to go to Malaysia by sea. The Rohingyas provided the names of four Bangladeshi men involved in human trafficking to the police. The culprits are Pekua residents Mohammad Titu, Abdul Goni, Mohammad Mansur and Mohammad Mezbah."
The Rohingyas will be sent back to their respective camps, he added.