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 12:45am, with Brac Migration Program staff providing urgent assistance.
Shariful Hasan, associate director of Brac's Migration and Youth Platform, said that the victims' families had contacted Brac for help in rescuing them.
This led Brac to reach out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, the CID, and the Bangladesh Embassy in Thailand.
The rescued individuals 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 Chittagong 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 centre. I was imprisoned there for six months and subjected to severe abuse. I had no choice but to work in the scam centre to save my life."
CID Additional Superintendent of Police Mostafizur Rahman said that the 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 Chittagong airport, and efforts are underway to arrest another key trafficker, Abdullah Al Noman.
Shariful also emphasized that cyber scams are a horrific form of human trafficking.
Traffickers lure people with offers of highly paid jobs in positions such as computer operators, typists, and call center operators through fake websites, emails, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram, he said.
Once the victims are tricked into the scam centres, they are held at gunpoint and forced to participate in the scams, he added.
He further 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.
Shariful stressed the importance of raising awareness about such scams, especially for those planning to work abroad.
