At least 108 Bangladeshis, who fell victim to human traffickers, have been trapped in Iran and 53 of them are expected to be repatriated by this month.
“We are trying to bring back 27 victims in the first phase and 26 others in the second phase by this month,” Binoy Krishna, executive director of Rights Jessore, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.
And the rest of victims would be brought back home in phases, he said, adding that two middlemen have been arrested in Iran.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is also trying to bring back the victims.
“We are trying to identify the traffickers and bring them to book,” CID additional DIG Md Shah Alam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. Promising lucrative jobs in Greece or Turkey, the traffickers took these Bangladeshis to Iran and confined them to realise ransom, he added.
Rights Jessore at an advocacy meeting with journalists held at its conference room yesterday disclosed that 108 Bangladeshis who fell victim to human trafficking in Iran are now in the police custody.
A total of 215 trafficked persons were repatriated in last two years under “action for combating trafficking in person” programme carried out by Rights Jessore, a human rights organisation.
Shah Mohammad Azharul Islam, coordinator of Rights Jessore, presented keynote information with the help of legal adviser Ashraful Alam Biplob.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Ahsan Kabir, general secretary of Jessore Press Club, Tauhidur Rahman, ex-secretary, Saifur Rahman Saif, Tauhid Zaman, Sarwar Hossain, Razek Jahangir, Saiful Islam Sazal and BM Faruk.
