65 Bangladeshi fortune-seekers rescued in Libya

At least 65 Bangladeshi fortune-seekers have been rescued from the traffickers' den in the remote area of Tripoli, the capital city of the war-torn Libya.

Libyan police also arrested four Bangladeshi human traffickers for their alleged involvement in abducting these 65 jobseekers and realising ransoms from the victim families.

The traffickers were identified as Waliur Rahman, Suman Shariff, Hafizul Sheikh and Rana Bhattacharya, Labour Counsellor ASM Ashraful Islam, at Bangladesh embassy in Tripoli, today confirmed The Daily Star over phone.

Traffickers brought the workers in promise of giving them lucrative jobs under some Libyan companies and then confined them to a den to realise the ransoms, he said.

"On information, Libyan police arrested the traffickers about three weeks ago but informed us recently. Now, the traffickers are being tried under the Libyan laws," he added.

Replying to a query, Ashraful said the Libyan police released the rescued 65 Bangladeshis from their custody and allow them to work in Libya.

These traffickers have been operating the criminal activities since the last two or three years, Ashraful said adding that they were working for some recruiting and travel agents based in Bangladesh.

"They (traffickers) are cheating with the people with lucrative job offers in some companies those have actually no existence in Libya. They used to confine the jobseekers to remote areas where the security situations are very risky," the embassy official said.

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Two months ago, the Libyan police also arrested three Bangladeshi traffickers named as Monir Bhandari, Imran and Tajul Islam for the same offence.

"They (traffickers) have admitted that they abducted 140 Bangladeshis. But we think the figure may be larger," Ashraful claimed.

Both Bangladesh and Libyan governments have suspended recruitment of workers due to ongoing troublesome situation in the North African country, Ashraful said.

Defying the move, several syndicates of human traffickers target the foreign workers including Bangladeshis and abduct them in promises of lucrative salaries, he added.

The traffickers bring the jobseekers to Libya through Egypt and Tunisian borders. Bangladesh government officially banned sending of its nationals to Libya in June last year on security ground.

More than 30,000 Bangladeshis are still working in Libya.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh embassy officials yesterday held a meeting with Tripoli's metropolitan police commissioner Col Sala Al Samauh emphasising on the security measures for the Bangladeshi migrants.

Bangladesh Ambassador Maj Gen Shahidul Haque sought help from the Libyan police to stop the abduction, torture of the Bangladeshis and realising ransoms from their families.