175 Bangladeshis return from Libya
A total of 175 Bangladeshi nationals returned to Dhaka from Libya on Wednesday morning on a Buraq Airlines flight, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).
Of them, 113 had been detained at the Tajoura Detention Centre in Tripoli and 62 at the Ganfuda Detention Centre in Benghazi, the statement said.
They were repatriated through the Bangladesh Embassy in Libya with the cooperation of the Libyan government, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (MoEWOE).
Officials said most of the returnees had entered Libya with the help of human traffickers in an attempt to travel illegally to Europe by sea.
There are also allegations that many of them were abducted and tortured at different times in Libya.
Officials from MoFA, MoEWOE and IOM received the returnees at the airport.
The IOM provided each returnee with travel expenses, food items, primary medical care and temporary accommodation, if needed.