They are one of the major driving forces behind the country’s economy.
The country enjoys the fruit when migrant workers remit staggering amounts like Tk15bn while remaining oblivious of the hardships that they endure.
Ill-treatment and ill-payments, deprivation, oppression, negligence by government employees – we have heard of all these.
But falling prey to human traffickers and kidnappers has been rarely heard of.
Ashab Uddin, 32, from Cox’s Bazar went to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in 2011 legally, spending Tk285,000 to work as a fisherman.
But his family has recently received a number of phone calls, which said he had been kidnapped. The callers demanded Tk3,00,000 for Ashab’s release and threatened to cut off one of his kidneys if they did not get the money.
Ashab’s brother Chhamiuddin, 25, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I talked to my brother over phone who said the kidnappers would cut off one his kidneys if we did not pay the money.”
Chhamiuddin also informed that Ashab was held hostage in the bordering areas of Greece.
Khairul Wara, Ashab’s uncle, said: “My sister [Ashab’s mother] cries so much when she hears her son’s voice over the phone that she loses sense. We can only save her if we can bring back my nephew.”
He said: “We have already paid them Tk300,000 for his release. Now they want Tk150,000 more to ensure a better job for my nephew.”
Wara said they had deposited Tk300,000 to account number 4007 at the Srinagar Branch in Munshiganj of Islami Bank from the bank’s Cox’s Bazar branch.
He said the threats came from three phone numbers – 0095388839339, 00989109319537 and 009053407656432.
According to international dialing standards, 95 is the country code for Myanmar, 98 for Iran and 90 for Turkey.
Wara also said the international racket of human traffickers could easily lure migrant workers with lucrative jobs because the workers leave their countries in the first place with the aim of changing their luck.
He alleged that Jalil Sheikh, 40, Robin Sheikh, 32, Mohammad Ziku, 26, and Mohammad Mintu, 42, were the local agents of the traffickers.
Ashab’s brother Chhamiuddin has recently sent a letter to the Ministry of Expatriate’s Welfare and Overseas Employment seeking steps for bringing back his brother.
In the letter, Chhami said all the four local agents were residents of the Munshiganj district.
Concealing its identity, the Dhaka Tribune managed to contact "Ziku" who claimed that Khairul Wara was supposed to give him Tk50,000 on April 1.
Ziku, however, switched off his phone as soon as this reporter told him that he was a journalist.
Ziku also said he was a member of the armed forces but Ashab’s uncle Khairul Wara claimed that he ran a cloth store.
This correspondent however, found Jalil Sheikh’s cell phone (01673376850) switched off.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Liakot Ali Rokoni, who works in the Police Headquarters in the capital, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had information about a group of Bangladeshi citizens and their local agents who kidnap migrant workers for ransom.
He claimed that tracing the local agents of the syndicate members was hard because they operate from different districts.
Shontosh Kumar Adhikari, chief of an expatriates’ welfare ministry taskforce, told the Dhaka Tribune that he had not heard of any such incident.
The taskforce, consisting of members from Rapid Action Battalion, the Detective Branch of Police, Border Guard Bangladesh and the Coast Guard, was formed to take care of fraud in migration.
Mizanur Rahman, director (immigration) of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, said migrant workers were sometimes taken hostage in the border areas of Iran.
Last year, a syndicate of traffickers held at least 50 Bangladeshi migrant workers hostage in the border areas of Iran and collected huge amounts of money as ransom from their families through the local agents.
