At least 103 Bangladeshi traffic victims, who were rescued by Myanmar authorities in June, have been brought back home.
The Myanmar authorities handed the traffic victims over to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) around 1pm yesterday, following a flag meeting between the two countries at 10:30am, sources told the Dhaka Tribune.
The Bangladesh side at the meeting, which took place at Tumbru town administration office in Myanmar, was a 10-member delegation led by acting commanding officer of 17 BGB Battalion, Major Imran Ullah, while the Myanmar side was led by Yu Chaw Naing, deputy director of the country’s Immigration and National Registration Department.
Talking to reporters following the four-hour meeting, Major Imran said the identities of the traffic victims had been verified before they were brought home, where they were handed over to Cox’s Bazar police for further verification.
The police took them to Cox’s Bazar Cultural Centre, from where everyone will be taken to his or her home by the Red Crescent Society and the International Organisation of Migration on completion of all legal formalities, said Shyamal Kumar Nath, superintendent of police in Cox’s Bazar.
At least 208 Bangladeshis were found floating in the sea by Myanmar Navy on May 21, while they rescued 727 more Bangladeshis on May 29. These floating migrants, seeking better fortune in another country, had fallen prey to human traffickers who abandoned them inside the maritime border of Myanmar.
Among them, at least 581 Bangladeshis have been repatriated from Myanmar in five phases before yesterday.
