DHAKA, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi government has taken punitive measures against 2,500 people for manipulating onion prices, a senior official said Monday.

Bangladeshi Commerce Secretary Md Jafar Uddin made the announcement at a press briefing in Dhaka but he did elaborate on the measures against the onion "racketeers" blamed for creating an artificial crisis.

Highlighting measures taken by the government to rein the onion market, he said steps are underway to import a huge amount of onions from China, Egypt and Turkey via air cargo following the directives of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The government measures came amid a huge public outcry due to skyrocketing prices of the essential cooking ingredient in the country.