Dhaka to start verifying its nationals in Thai prison Oct 28
Bangladesh will begin verification of its nationals, who were arrested and kept in different detention centres in Thailand, from October 28.
"We will start verifying them step by step and in the group we will verify 30 people,” Secretary (bilateral) Mustafa Kamal said at the Foreign Minister’s press briefing today.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali was briefing journalists on the upcoming visits of the president and prime minister to the United Arab Emirates.
Mustafa Kamal said the 118 Bangladeshis are now staying in 5 to 6 detention centres and the Thai authorities have allowed to consular access to 30 people in the first phase.
On October 19, the foreign minister said Bangladesh had sought “consular access” to verify the nationalities of the detainees in Thailand, 118 of whom claimed themselves to be Bangladeshis.
According to media reports the 118 Bangladeshis had been abducted and taken to Thailand to be sold as slaves.
The Foreign Minister said they were the “victims of human trafficking”.
Thai authorities had informed Dhaka that some 118 people had identified themselves as Bangladeshi citizens among the 134 people rescued in two groups.
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