Fortune did not smile on Jamal Hossain who desperately wanted to break the cycle of poverty by migrating to a foreign country.
Jamal along with 16 ill-fated migrant workers returned home empty-handed from a jail of Egypt on Sunday night.
"I quit school after I completed class nine due to poverty. With the help of a local agent I went to Egypt over one and a half years back to join a juice factory but I was not given the job as was promised by the agent," Hossain said.
After languishing about three months in detention camps and different jails of Egypt, 17 migrants including Jamal Hossain arrived at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11.15pm on Sunday night.
At the airport, Jamal Hossain (21), son of Jahangir Hossain, who comes from Gopalganj said: "I along with many others was promised to be given jobs in a juice factory with a monthly salary of $200."
"As we reached Egypt we found that we were sent there on tourist visas and our passports were taken away. We were given jobs in a textile company with a meagre monthly salary of $80."
"After one month I along with few others communicated with other Bangladeshi migrants who were known to me," Jamal said as he was narrating his sufferings.
He said later he along with another Bangladeshi named Khokon took an embroidery job with a monthly pay of $180 where he worked for about a year.
As law enforcers all on a sudden began a drive to identify illegal migrants Khokan and he sneaked into a rural area where they worked in a plastic manufacturing company for three months.
They then left the job with one-month's salary being unpaid and joined a light factory one month before it was laid off.
"As we were hanging around police detained us and kept us in a camp for three days and we had to suffer in jail for one day before the court released us," he said.
But afterwards they were taken to a police station where they were confined for 10 days: "All of our belongings were taken away and we were sent to a jail in Cairo," Jamal said.
"We were told that we would be able to go back home if our embassy issued us passes and arranged our tickets," Jamal said, alleging the embassy had not responded.
Jamal said the embassies of Pakistan and India contacted their migrant workers within a week.
"After about two months, Jahangir, an official of Bangladesh's embassy in Egypt gave us passes and we were able to return home," Jamal continued.
Jamal had to make a payment of over Tk1, 00,000 to Jom Jom Travels in Dhaka after he took out a loan and had mortgaged a piece of land.
"I have paid off half of the loan and I don't know how I will pay the rest of the amount," he gave a sigh of relief.
After receiving 17 migrants including Jamal at the airport, a director of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, said the migrant workers were brought back with the help of Bangladesh Embassy in Egypt.
MGH Holding Limited, a non-government organisation, handed Tk1000 to each cheated migrant worker. The migrants were sent back to their respective homes.
When contacted Expatriates' Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said: "I am in an emergency meeting and I will talk to you later."
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) President Shajalal Majumdar said action would be taken if any member of Baira or travel agency was found involved in the malpractice.
