70 migrant workers return from Saudi

Some 70 Bangladeshi migrant workers returned from Saudi Arabia on Sunday night, amid a crackdown on undocumented workers there. 

A Saudia Airlines plane carrying the workers landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 11:20pm, said Shariful Hasan, head of Brac Migration Programme.

With them, around 16,000 Bangladeshi workers have so far been sent back home by the Saudi authorities this year alone, he said. Around 600 Bangladeshis have returned this month so far.  

A support team -- comprising Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and Brac Migration Programme officials -- arranged food for the returnees and assisted them at the immigration office, officials said.

Quoting returnees, Shariful said Bangladeshi workers have been facing a crackdown in Saudi Arabia over several days. Even those with residential permits were detained and sent to a deportation camp, he said.