Eighty-three Bangladeshis, who returned from Vietnam and Qatar, were sent to jail on Tuesday after police have shown them arrested under section 54 of penal code on completion of 14-day quarantine in the capital. New Age BD reported.
Of them, 81 returned from Vietnam and two from Qatar.
The arrested were involved in different crimes and irregularities abroad that tarnished the image of Bangladesh, said Turag police station officer-in-charge Nurul Muttakin.
Some of the arrested, however, alleged that police mostly arrested returnees, who protested in front of Bangladeshi embassy in Vietnam.
Some Vietnam-returnees said that numbers of returnees were victims of human trafficking to Vietnam and were left stranded in different cities of Vietnam in the last few years.
While they were being exploited by Vietnamese employers and Bangladeshi brokers, Bangladesh embassy did not offer them any support despite repeated complaints, said a Vietnam-returnee youth, who was allowed to go home after the quarantine.
The youth said that police arrested returnees who participated in protests in Bangladeshi embassy in early July and the rests were allowed to go home.
On August 18, a flight carried 106 migrants to Dhaka from Vietnam. They were then taken to Diabari Isolation Centre for a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
Before sending them back home, Vietnam authorities wrote to Bangladesh to take necessary steps about them, police said.
Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen in early July alleged that 27 Bangladeshis in Vietnam who were demanding to be repatriated had ‘occupied Bangladesh mission in Hanoi’.
Tuesday’s arrested were linked to the incident, said some Vietnam-returnees.
Earlier, 219 migrant workers deported from Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain were sent to jail on charges of ‘tarnishing the image of Bangladesh’ in the first week of July.
None of them was released yet, said Turag police general recording officer Rabindra Narayan Saha.
He said that Turag police sub-inspector Anwarul Islam on Tuesday produced the 83 expatriates before a Dhaka court saying they that were earlier convicted in the abroad and sentenced to different terms for their involvement in criminal activities.
Amid COVID-19 pandemic, their sentences were commuted and they were sent back to Bangladesh. Their criminal activities have tarnished the country’s image and also put a negative impact on the labour industry, the police said.
SI Anwarul prayed to the court to keep them in jail until the investigation was completed.
Metropolitan magistrate Satyabrata Sikder sent them to jail as the arrested had no lawyers to defend them in court.
Families of some arrested Vietnam-returnees also alleged of police harassment of their dearest one.
Young Rifat Ahmed Mehedi is among the arrested on Tuesday. He was a worker at Narayanganj dockyard and went to Vietnam in February spending Tk 4 lakh.
Soon after his arrival, Rifat’s passport was taken away by Bangladeshi broker Mostafa, said Rifat’s wife Sanjida Akhter Meem.
She told New Age that her husband was living in miseries for the last few months without a job and proper accommodation.
Rifat complained to the Bangladesh embassy in Vietnam but did not get any assistance.
Sanjida said that her husband was never involved in any crime anywhere.
‘I met him in Dhaka quarantine centre on Monday when he handed over a bag and some clothing to me and told me that he would be allowed to go home today [Tuesday]. I was waiting for him when a phone call came from him. He told me that he was being arrested with many others. I still don’t know what was his offence,’ said Sanjida.
According to the New Age BD, the story of Mohammad Rubel, a tiles worker in Keraniganj of Dhaka, is almost identical as he went to Vietnam in January by spending Tk 3.7 lakh.
Within days after his arrival in Vietnam, Rubel realised that he was cheated by human traffickers, said his brother-in-law Md Ali.
After months of ordeal there, Rubel finally managed to return to Bangladesh on the August 18 flight. He was also taken to quarantine.
‘Rubel was happy to return. He was eager to meet his family. We have been talking over the cellphone for the last few days. He told me yesterday [Monday] night that might be quizzed by police about their staying in Vietnam and then would be allowed to go home. We never thought that he might get arrested,’ said Ali.
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Source: Vietnam Insider