Dhaka to start verifying its nationals in Thai prison Oct 28

Bangladesh will start identifying its nationals among the recent Thai detainees on Oct 28, a foreign ministry official has said.

“We’ll verify them step by step,” Secretary (bilateral) Mustafa Kamal said on Friday at the foreign minister’s press briefing.

Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali was briefing journalists on the upcoming visits of the president and prime minister to the United Arab Emirates.

But replying a question, Kamal, who oversees the whole process and was seated next to the minister, said they would get access to 30 detainees on Oct 28.

Earlier, the foreign minister, on Oct 19, said Bangladesh had sought “consular access” to verify the nationalities of the detainees in Thailand, 118 of whom claimed themselves to be Bangladeshis.

They had been abducted and taken to Thailand to be sold as slaves.

The minister said they were the “victims of human trafficking”.

Thai authorities had informed Dhaka that some 118 people had identified themselves as Bangladeshi citizens among the 134 people rescued in two groups.

The foreign minister had earlier said Bangladesh had smooth relations with the Thai authorities to bring back those detainees.

Photo: BBC

On Friday he said President Md Abdul Hamid would visit Dubai from Oct 28 to Oct 30 to attend the 10th World Islamic Economic Forum.

Before him, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will go an official visit to the Gulf kingdom from Oct 25 to Oct 27 at the invitation of her counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The foreign minister will accompany both of them and will personally attend the fourth ‘High Level Public Private Counter Piracy Conference’ in Dubai from Oct 29 to Oct 30.