Published : 06 Oct 2026, 02:27 PM
Updated : 06 Oct 2026, 02:27 PM
They had gone abroad with dreams of earning money and bringing financial stability to their families. But those dreams ended tragically, with the bodies of four Bangladeshi expatriates now set to return home in coffins.
The bodies of four Bangladeshis — Sohag Ahmed, 23, of Jhenaidah; Asif Khan, 24, of Chuadanga; Jewel Hossain, 53, of Bogura; and Shahnaz Talukdar — are expected to arrive in Dhaka from Cambodia on Thursday.
The bodies of Sohag, Asif and Jewel are scheduled to arrive on a Malaysia Airlines flight at 11:05am, while Shahnaz’s body is expected to arrive on a separate flight at night.
Although all four had obtained clearance from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) through the official migration process, some fell victim to trafficking into Chinese-controlled cyber scam compounds, while others were deceived in the name of employment.
Sohag, A Prey to a Scam Compound
Sohag Ahmed, from Baraipara village in Jhenaidah’s Shailkupa Upazila, went to Cambodia in April 2025 after obtaining BMET clearance.
But after arriving in the country, he was trafficked into a Chinese-controlled cyber scam compound, where he was held captive and subjected to abuse for an extended period.
Sohag died on Dec 31, 2025.
His father Billal Hossain told bdnews24.com that he had borrowed money at high interest to send his son abroad.
“I am very poor. I borrowed money at high interest and spent around Tk 900,000 to send my son abroad. Now my son is gone, and the creditors keep coming to our house demanding repayment,” he said.
Recalling his last conversations with his son, Billal said, “I spoke to him two days before he died. They would not allow him to talk.”
Asif Trafficked to Cambodia Instead of Job in Morocco
Asif Khan, from Shahapur village in Chuadanga’s Jibannagar Upazila, was sent to Cambodia after being promised agricultural work in Morocco.
With the help of a local broker named Zakir, Asif travelled to Cambodia in January 2026. He died just a few months later, on Mar 28, after being electrocuted.
Describing how his son was deceived, Asif’s father told bdnews24.com: “They told us they would take my son to Morocco for agricultural work. But after he boarded the plane, they handed him a Cambodian visa. He died from an electric shock just a month after going to Cambodia. We spent Tk 850,000 and lost our son. Now we are destitute.”
He said his son had no experience of electrical work.
“My son had never worked with electricity before. We fell into the trap of a local broker. We thought he was going to a Muslim country, but they ruined everything for us,” he said.
Ensnared in Deception, Debt
Jewel Hossain, 53, from Bogura, and expatriate Shahnaz Talukdar also died after travelling to Cambodia in search of work.
Shahnaz’s body is scheduled to return on a flight on Thursday night.
Shahnaz’s wife Rekta Khatun told bdnews24.com about her husband’s death and the family’s current plight.
“I have two small children. One is five months old and the other is three. My husband went abroad after taking out loans and paying Tk 550,000,” she said.
“Now my husband is gone, and there is no income. I do not know how I will survive with my two little children, or how I will pay the loan instalments. Now we survive by asking others for help,” she said.
BMET Clearance Received, Yet Scam Centre Was Destination
According to BMET data, 16,360 Bangladeshis travelled to Cambodia over the past two years.
Many of them were forced to work at cyber scam centres after arriving in the country. Some have managed to escape and return to Bangladesh, carrying harrowing accounts of torture and abuse.
An official of BRAC’s Migration Programme told bdnews24.com that the families of the victims have been waiting for their loved ones to return home alive.
“Those families may have been waiting for their loved ones to come back alive one day. At the end of that wait, only their mortal remains are now returning in coffins,” the official said.
“These deaths are not merely stories of grief for the families. They also raise critical questions about safe migration, deception in the name of overseas employment, human trafficking, scam compounds and state oversight.”
The official questioned how workers who had obtained clearance through the government’s official process could become victims of trafficking.
“How did they end up in scam compounds? And what was the actual cause of their deaths? It is now the responsibility of the authorities concerned to answer these questions,” the official said.
“The biggest demand now is that the dream of finding employment abroad must never turn into news of death for any family.”
