Armenia has confirmed that it has arrested six Bangladeshis last week for entering the country illegally.
They were apprehended from the Armenian-Azerbaijan border in the early hours of May 9, the National Security Service said in a statement on Monday.
NSS claimed that the Bangladeshis had told them that they wanted to go to Turkey via Iran to seek jobs but got lost.
Criminal charges have been brought against them.
Armenian news agency NEWS.am released a video showing the six arrestees but their names and detailed identities could not be confirmed yet.
Bangladesh’s Greece embassy, which is handling the matter since the country has no embassy in Armenia, said they were yet to officially confirm the nationalities of the arrestees.
Embassy’s First Secretary Sujan Debnath told the Dhaka Tribune over phone that they had learned about the arrests from Armenian news sites.
“Armenia is yet to officially inform us but we contacted its embassy in Greece immediately after learning about the incident,” he said. “The Armenian embassy is also not aware about the arrests. Their officials said they would inform us after checking with their country.”
Sujan said Bangladesh never supported illegal migration.
“However, we will contact our Foreign Ministry to provide them legal assistance if they turn out to be Bangladeshis,” he added.
When asked about the delay in the verification process, Sujan said Armenia did not inform its Greece embassy about the incident.
The Armenian National Security Service has been contacted for comments.