Court tells govt to escort home nine migrant minors recued by Mynmar Navy

A court has directed the government to escort the nine children, who were among the 155 Bangladeshi citizens brought back from Myanmar, to their homes.

Cox’s Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate Sushanta Prasad Chakma issued the order on Thursday after they were produced in court.
 
District’s Police Lines’ Inspector Mejbah Uddin said the court directed that the children be escorted home by the local unit of the Red Crescent Society.
 
Six of them are from Narayanganj, two from Jhenidah, and the other from Madaripur.
 
Bangladesh brought back 155 people from Myanmar on Wednesday after verifying their nationality.
 
They were among the 727 migrant job-seekers rescued by the Myanmar Navy on May 29 from boats operated by human traffickers in the Bay of Bengal.
 
Red Crescent Society’s district unit President Nurul Absar said their representatives would set off with the children for their homes by Thursday night.
 
Meanwhile, 146 of the rescued adults completed the immigration procedures on Wednesday.
 
Inspector Uddin, however, said police and detectives were questioning them to gather information.
 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) is providing humanitarian assistant to the rescued.
 
Its officials said those brought back would be sent home by Friday after their questioning was over.
 
IOM National Programme Officer Asif Munier said, “IOM will arrange buses for places where a large number of them have their homes. The others will be given money to make the journey.”
 
In June, Bangladesh brought back 187 people from Myanmar in two phases after their Bangladeshi nationality had been confirmed.
 
On May 21, the Myanmar Navy had rescued a boatload of 208 illegal migrants stranded in the sea.