Bangladeshi trafficking victim back home dead from Malaysia

The body of Abdur Rashid, a trafficking victim, was brought home yesterday.

Rashid died in a Malaysian detention centre on June 5.

Rashid, 45, hailed from Narsingdi's Velanagar. His body was taken to his village where he was buried after Asr prayers yesterday.

Rashid's brother Abul Kashem alleged that Rashid

died without treatment in the detention camp.

“My brother might not have died if the authorities arranged for proper treatment in the detention center,” Kashem told The Daily Star.

Musharrat Jebin, first secretary at the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, said they are yet to receive a police report on Rashid's death.

The family learnt about Rashid's death on June 17 from Al Amin a fellow inmate who was also in Belantik detention centre in Malaysian Kedah state.

Rashid was a furniture maker in Narsingdi before he was lured by a local broker to Malaysia for work on March 27 this year.

He left home without his family's knowledge. The family knew about it a month later when the local broker, Jamir, asked them for ransom.

He told them Rashid was on a ship and Rashid's life would be in danger if the ransom was not paid to him. The family paid Jamir Tk 2.5 lakh by borrowing the money.

They could not contact Rashid even after the payment. When they asked Jamir, the broker said Malaysian police had caught Rashid. A few days later they learnt about Rashid's death.

Although Bangladesh government arranged for repatriation of the rescued trafficking victims from Malaysia, the process of bringing back Rashid's body was delayed for money.

Later, CARAM Asia, a Malaysia-based regional network on migrant rights, and Valobasi Bangladesh, an organisation of Bangladeshi expatriates, got the funds together to bring Rashid's body to home.

Rashid, along with 715 other Bangladeshis, was rescued by Malaysian police on May 11 from the Andaman Sea.

Abul Kashem said they submitted a written complaint against Jamir to Narsingdi police superintendent. The SP then ordered the Raipura police to investigate. However, Jamir has not been caught.