Saudi Arabia deports 153 more workers

Some 153 Bangladeshi workers were deported on Wednesday night by the Saudi Arabian authorities, as part of their ongoing crackdown on undocumented workers in the Kingdom.

With them, at least 974 Bangladeshi migrant workers have been sent back from the country in October alone, says Brac Migration Programme, which maintains a database of deported migrant workers.

The workers landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on a Saudia flight around 11:20pm, said Shariful Hasan, head of the programme.

Brac, in coordination with Bangladesh government’s Wage Earners’ Welfare Board, provided the deportees with immediate assistance, including food and drinking water.

He said many of the workers, who had gone to the largest middle eastern country nearly a month ago, were sent back “completely empty-handed”.

Shariful said the Bangladesh mission in Saudi Arabia should take prompt action to address the problems the migrants are facing in the country.

He also urged the government to identify and take action against the unscrupulous recruiting agencies and brokers involved in trafficking workers abroad.