A meagre amount of rice and only a little water was all that Shafiqul was provided each day throughout the month he was held hostage at sea – along with 300 others – by human traffickers.
Seventeen-year-old Shafiqul Islam from Chuadanga, however, considers himself as one of the lucky ones; many other fortune-seekers like him were killed at sea by their captors.
Following his traumatic ordeal, Shafiqul returned to his Gabargara village home on Thursday with the help of the Red Crescent Society. He was earlier rescued by the Myanmar Navy and repatriated to Bangladesh on June 8.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Shafiqul described how he was duped and held hostage by profit-seeking human traffickers.
With only Tk2,000 in his pocket and dreams of travelling to Malaysia, Shafiqul left home on April 30 after collecting the phone number of a human trafficker based in Cox’s Bazar. It all went downhill from there.
After reaching the coastal town, the smugglers told him to wait at a local bus counter on the Link Road. A man soon picked him up from the spot and brought him to a house where he was immediately locked up.
A day later, Shafiqul was taken to a ship where he was beaten up and told that he would be killed and dumped at sea unless his family paid Tk50,000 in ransom.
In the same vessel, Shafiqul said he saw around 300 people including 200 Bangladeshis. There, he also met other victims from his district – named Mofazzal, Shilu alias Shabuj and Ariful.
For the next month, the smugglers kept the victims in starving conditions, giving them only 200g of water and 100g of rice each day along with two pieces of chilli pepper. If anyone asked for water, they received a beating in return.
The victims were kept in unhygienic conditions. They were hardly allowed a chance to relieve themselves, while 50 people were made to cram together in a space that would be considered tight for even 10 persons, said Shafiqul. Nobody was allowed to speak.
A man from Cox’s Bazar and some more from Myanmar regularly beat up the people on the ship. The crew also had some men from Thailand.
Shafiqul said he often saw Myanmar Navy ships coming near their vessel, but ignoring the victims inside.
However, a total 208 people on the boat were eventually rescued by the navy on May 21, and 150 of them were later sent back to Bangladesh after verification of their nationality.
Among the 150 returned victims, the Red Crescent have arranged a trip back home for those under the age of 18, Shafiqul said. The rest were reportedly told to arrange for their own journeys.