Bangladesh Police arrest 82 migrant workers back from Vietnam on ‘unknown charges’

Police have arrested 82 migrant workers after they completed 14 days in quarantine at Diabari Camp in Dhaka following their return from Vietnam.

The arrestees were taken out of the camp at around 11am on Tuesday and sent straight to court.

The arrests come just a few months after police jailed 219 migrants upon their return from Middle Eastern countries, without any specific charges against them.

Despite repeated attempts, Dhaka Tribune could not reach Turag police station or the deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Uttara division to confirm the reason behind the arrests.

However, sources said the migrant workers have been arrested under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrCP).

Meanwhile, Turag police station duty officer told Dhaka Tribune there were cases filed against the arrestees in Vietnam, but declined to elaborate further.

Earlier on August 18, a total of 106 migrant workers returned home from Vietnam on a special flight and were kept at Diabari Quarantine Camp for 14 days.

They were interrogated by police in several stages.

In the last two days of the end of their quarantine period, police presence was increased at the camp, sources said. Police also listed the belongings of the returnees there.

Following the arrest of 82, the rest 24 were released.

“Sub-Inspector Anwarul Islam [from Turag police station] told the arrestees that they will be taken to court, but did not explain the reason to them,” Brac Migration Program Chief Shariful Hasan told Dhaka Tribune.

“These Bangladeshis went to Vietnam through recruiting agencies. They went to the high commission [Bangladesh High Commission in Vietnam] to protest, which is not against the rules,” he added.

“If there are no specific allegations against them, then this is very sad. Such incidents would bar migrants to go to embassies in future or lose courage to protest [even if they have been tortured],” said Shariful.

The migrant workers earlier said that they went to Vietnam with a release letter provided by the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training.

Most of these migrant workers spent between Tk4 lakh and Tk5 lakh each for jobs in Vietnam.

Although the recruiting agency told them that they would be taken straight to work at a sofa factory, they found that they were deceived after arriving in the Southeast Asian country.

Later, some of them managed to get short-term jobs but went unemployed soon after.

The migrant workers then travelled from the port city Vũng Tàu to Hanoi to visit the Bangladesh High Commission there.

Agitated, they took position in front of the high commission demanding they be sent back home by the Bangladesh government. Later, they were sent back home on a special flight.

Earlier, police just brought allegations of “tarnishing the image of Bangladesh” against the expatriates as a cause for arresting 219 migrants. The law enforcement agency was reluctant to talk openly over the issue.

Source: Dhaka tribune