The Bangladesh government is also in a predicament as it has yet to identify the reasons behind the mismatches of fingerprints in the biometric system, and also for its failure to convince the Malaysian government to consider allowing those workers in the country.

Matching fingerprints through biometric system is recognised as the best technology to detect fraud during migrations.

"We asked the Malaysian government to consider the issue of the workers, but it took a strong position against our proposal and said it will in no way allow entry of the workers with fingerprint mismatches," said Abdul Matin Chowdhury, secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment.

The issue was raised during the secretary's visit to Malaysia last month but the Malaysian authorities said it would create further trouble in the system if they accepted the workers with fingerprint mismatches, Matin added.

According to the new system, workers intending to go to Malaysia must submit their fingerprints to the office of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) in Dhaka.

Once the workers reach Kuala Lumpur immigrations after all necessary formalities, they are allowed to enter the country only if their fingerprints match with the recorded ones.

According to experts, fingerprint is such a biological feature that does not change and therefore several countries use the biometric system to prevent fraud in migrations from one country to another.

Surprisingly, above 400 workers' fingerprints did not match during checks at the immigrations in Kuala Lumpur since the resumption of manpower export to Malaysia in October last year.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Maksudur Rahman, who had been appointed as the administrator of Baira, said misplacement of fingerprints in the data of the workers might be one of the reasons behind such mismatches.

"The technicians at Baira might have deliberately made such mismatches with ill intentions or this might have happened by mistake," said another source of Baira requesting anonymity.

Maksudur Rahman said following directives from the ministry, they are trying to identify the reasons behind the mismatches, which have serious consequences for the workers who spent at least Tk 2 lakh to Tk 2.5 lakh for the chance of working in Malaysia.

Many of them got the money through selling their lands or by borrowing from lenders.

Secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Abdul Matin Chowdhury said they are also contacting Glory Multimedia, the Malaysian computer firm that installed the online system between Bangladesh and Malaysia, to identify the cause of the mismatches.

Asked how these returnee workers will be compensated, Matin said there is a wage earners' welfare fund but that cannot be used as those workers could not even enter their workplace.

Apart from the biometric fingerprint mismatch issue the workers had no other problem, he said adding, "Once the cause behind the fingerprint mismatches is identified, we will be able to come to a conclusion and decide what to do with those workers." There must be a way out, he noted.