Bangladesh, Sept. 19 -- Joint security forces have rescued 66 people, including children, who had reportedly gathered in Cox's Bazar's Teknaf Upazila to be smuggled to Malaysia by sea.

The operation was carried out on Thursday night in a hilly area adjacent to Kachhapia in Baharchhara Union, according to Lt Commander Siam ul Haque, media officer of the Bangladesh Coast Guard Headquarters.

Among those rescued were 23 women, 22 men and 21 children.

Most of them are members of Myanmar's forcibly displaced Rohingya community.

Siam said that around 8:30pm on Thursday, law-enforcing agencies received intel that a group of people had assembled in the area to be smuggled by sea.

A joint team of the Bangladesh Coast Guard and the Bangladesh N...