Bangladesh to verify nationality of 118 rescued in Thailand
The nationality verification of 118 self-claimed Bangladeshis who were rescued in Thailand will start two weeks later, said officials at Bangladesh embassy in Bangkok this evening.
“It will take one or two weeks to complete the screening of all detainees including the Bangladeshis. After the Thai authorities’ verification, we will start our own verification,” said Muhammad Ehteshamul Haque, minister (consular) at the embassy.
The Bangladeshis, who were rescued last week from two separate areas in the Southern Thailand, are now staying in several dentition centres at Pakua district.
Of them, two or three detainees are now undergoing treatment under the Thai authorities’ supervision, Ehteshamul told The Daily Star over phone.
Besides, the Thai authorities are providing them with food, clothes and other necessary items.
The embassy official, however, said the repatriation of the trafficking victims will start after the completion of the verification of their nationalities by police in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, acting foreign secretary Mustafa Kamal said Dhaka has sought a consular access to ‘trafficked’ Bangladeshi citizens in Thailand as they will be brought back home following the due process.
Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said the incident was part of ‘human trafficking’, not human slavery. “It’s not our problem alone…many other countries have the same problem,” he said adding that the government has taken necessary steps to deal with it.
The foreign minister informed that some 740 Bangladeshis entered Thailand this year.
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