Abduction victims Anowar and Helal due to arrive in Dhaka tomorrow

Two Bangladeshi migrant workers, who were freed on March 24 after being abducted by militants for 18 days in Libya, may return home tomorrow.

The Austrian Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS) Ltd, which employed the workers, brought them to its Tripoli office from Misrata on Thursday, ending all confusions over the whereabouts of the Bangladeshis after their release, said officials at the Bangladesh embassy in Libya yesterday.

The embassy officials also met the Bangladeshis at the VAOS office in Tripoli on Thursday.

“A militant group released them in Sirte from where they tried to reach Tripoli. But they were caught by local armed forces in Misrata. The army kept our two people and another Ghanaian under their custody for interrogation. Finally, the VAOS rescued and brought them to Tripoli,” ASM Ashraful Islam, counsellor (Labour Wing) at the Bangladesh embassy in Tripoli, told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.

 Unknown militants abducted Helal Uddin of Jamalpur and Anowar Hossain of Noakhali along with seven other foreigners -- four Filipinos, an Austrian, a Czech and a Ghanaian -- from the Al-Ghani oilfield in the south of Sirte on March 6.

Later, they freed the Bangladeshis and the Ghanaian but the other six were not released, said Ashraful.

Yesterday, they were taken to Malta from where they would be sent home, said Ashraful. “The VAOS authorities told us that they would send them back to Dhaka from Malta by Sunday,” he added.

Replying to a query about the kidnappers, he said Helal and Anowar informed them that an unknown militant group abducted them and kept them confined for a few days.

Meanwhile, the families of Helal and Anowar said they heaved a sigh of relief as they could talk to them directly yesterday and on Thursday.

“I'm extremely happy that my father called me directly from Libya. He is safe now,” Helena Akter, daughter of Helal, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Fear and uncertainty gripped the family as they could not contact Helal for the last few days despite his release from militants, she said. “We have been crying and praying to Allah for my father's safety. We couldn't sleep thinking about him.”

Anowar's wife Marfua Khatun also expressed satisfaction after she talked to her husband. She is now counting days for her husband's return.