Human traffickers use Bangladesh as transit, state minister Kamal tells Parliament

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said human traffickers are using Bangladesh as a main transit.

In reply to a written question in Parliament on Monday, he said it was true that people were being trafficked to different countries from Bangladesh.
 
“Bangladesh is also being used in recent years as transit for human trafficking,” he said. 
 
Discovery of a mass grave at an abandoned human trafficking camp inside a jungle in Thailand in April brought international spotlight on human trafficking through sea routes. 
 
Since then, over three thousand people, believed to be Bangladeshis and Myanmar’s Rohingya people, were rescued from the boats stranded off the coast of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
 
Facing persecution in Myanmar, Rohingiyas for the past few years have been undertaking risky boat journeys to cross over to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
 
Even people from Bangladesh are regularly trying to enter Malaysia on rickety boats and fishing trawlers. 
 
“A significant number of men from Bangladesh undertake the perilous voyage lured by the false promises of jobs. They often end up being exploited as forced labour or debt slave,” the state minister said. 
 
To prevent human trafficking, he said, the national committee had been meeting in every two months.
 
In reply to another question, he said the syndicates involved in the crime had been identified, and actions were taken against them.  
 
“We are maintaining a strong vigil against human trafficking. Our intelligence agencies have identified them (traffickers).
 
“We have already taken action against them and we will continue to do that. We have taken adequate steps to prevent human trafficking,” he said.
 
Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has expressed concern over the rise in human trafficking, discovery of mass graves in Thailand and Malaysia, and persecution of migrants.
 
In reply to a query, he said, “The present government has always been following a ‘zero tolerance’ towards human trafficking. Orders have been issued for the immediate rehabilitation of Bangladeshi victims.”     
 
To prevent this crime, Bangladesh formed a task force with India, the minister said, adding steps were taken under this initiative.
 
He said so far 359 Bangladeshi illegal migrants had been brought back. Of them, 61 were returned from Malaysia, 107 from Indonesia, 187 from Myanmar and four from Thailand.