125 to return from Myanmar today

A total of 125 Bangladeshi trafficking victims who were rescued by the Myanmar authorities from the Bay of Bengal in May will be brought back home from the neighbouring country today.

The fortune-seekers will be brought back through the Bangladesh-Myanmar Friendship Bridge at Ghumdum point along the border following a flag meeting between Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Myanmar's Border Guard Police (BGP) at Muangdaw immigration camp at 10:30am.

Cox's Bazar BGB-17 Battalion Commanding Officer Lt Col Robiul Islam will lead the 18-member BGB team while Sue Nayent, deputy director of Myanmar Immigration Department, will lead Myanmar's BGP team.

These 125 victims, including over 20 children, will be handed over to Cox's Bazar police. In order to verify their nationalities for the second time, police will send them to a temporary camp at the Cox's Bazar Cultural Centre, said Tofael Ahmed, additional superintendent of police of Cox's Bazar.

The Myanmar Navy on May 21 and 29 rescued 208 and 727 fortune seekers from their territorial waters and claimed that all of them were from Bangladesh.

According to Asif Munir of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 501 Bangladeshi trafficking victims have so far been repatriated from Myanmar in four phases since last June 8 while some 325 Bangladeshis are on the waiting list to return home.