The Indian authorities pushed back 27 Bangladeshi nationals into the country through Shewla tax station on the Bangladesh-India border in Sylhet’s Beanibazar upazila yesterday.
All of these Bangladeshis served imprisonment terms from two to four years for illegal stay in India before they were sent back, said Sugyan Chakma, additional superintendent of police in Sylhet.
Of the 27 men, 26 are from Chapainawabganj district and one is from Magura district, police said.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Abdul Khalek, one of the victims, said he had lost all hope of returning home.
“I am grateful to everyone who helped bring us back to the country,” he said.
He said a gang of traffickers posing as recruiters lured them with the offer of lucrative jobs in India and smuggled them into the country.
But after they arrived there, the traffickers put them on jobs without payment and kept them in inhuman conditions.
“Whenever we asked for our payment, they kept postponing it, saying they would pay us in a few days,” Khalek said.
He further claimed that the Indian police was also not helpful at all.
ASP Sugyan Chakma said these 27 men and four others were trafficked to india in 2012. When they demanded their wages, the traffickers informed police that the 31 men had entered India illegally. Police arrested them and presented them at a Manipur court, where they were given different terms in prison.
After the 27 victims finished their terms in prison, the Indian authorities contacted the Bangladesh consulate in West Bengal, who upon verification issued a special travel pass for them.
With the help of the travel pass, the victims were pushed back in Bangladesh yesterday afternoon.
Sugyan further said police has taken all preparation to send the victims to their homes safely.
