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Eighteen Bangladeshis, who were victims of human trafficking, and imprisoned in a scam centre in Myanmar, returned home early Wednesday.
A Thai Airways flight carrying them landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 12:45 am, with BRAC Migration Programme staff providing them with urgent assistance, as per a UNB report.
Shariful Hasan, Associate Director of BRAC's Migration and Youth Platform, said that the victims’ families contacted BRAC for help in rescuing them, prompting them to reach out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, the CID and the Bangladesh Embassy in Thailand.
Those rescued are Omar Faruk, Rasheduzzaman Islam, Md Alif, Raihan Sobhan, Sheikh Arman, Md Pavel Chowdhury, Monir Hossain, Md Ismail Hossain, Md Nizam Uddin, Zahir Uddin, Tanveer Akand Rafi, Towanur Khalilullah, Md Syamon Hossain, Md Ujjal Hossain, Mehedi Hasan, Md Kaisar Hossain, Md Shah Alam, and Md Akash Ali.
One of the victims Md Alif who hails from Chattogram said, "I used to work on a ship in Dubai. I was lured by the promise of a higher salary for a data entry job and taken to Thailand. From there, the traffickers took me to the Thai-Myanmar border in Mass. I was held hostage with many others at gunpoint and sold into a scam center. I was imprisoned there for six months and subjected to severe abuse. I had no choice but to work in the scam center to save my life."
CID Additional Superintendent of Police Mostafizur Rahman said that key trafficker Iftekharul Islam Rony is facing human trafficking charges in eight separate cases across various police stations.
He was arrested on January 18 at Chattogram Airport and efforts are underway to arrest another key trafficker Abdullah Al Noman.
BRAC’s Shariful also said that cyber scams represent a horrific form of human trafficking.
Traffickers lure people with offers of highly paid jobs in positions such as computer operators, typists and call centre operators through fake websites, emails, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram. Once the victims are tricked into the scam centres, they are held at gunpoint and forced to participate in the scams.
He also mentioned that scams are occurring in countries like Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, prompting the government to issue warnings about travelling to these countries.
Raising awareness about such scams is essential for everyone, especially those planning to work abroad, he stressed.