Will it ever end?

Several hundred Bangladeshis and Rohingyas are still held hostage in Thai jungles despite reported crackdowns on human trafficking after discovery of mass graves and skeletons along the borders of Thailand and Malaysia.

Ransom calls from Thailand to the families of at least seven Bangladeshis who left home mostly in March-April bears out reports that the dark trade is still on.

It had seemed the days of human traffickers were numbered after Thailand and Malaysia began to clamp down on them early May. The Thai authorities arrested some 60 suspects, including politicians and a top-ranked military officer.

Fearing arrest, trafficking gangs started to abandon boats full of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis. Initially, none of the countries agreed to allow the migrants on their shores and the boats kept drifting in the sea for weeks.

Following global outcry, around 5,000 victims were later rescued off the coasts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand.

But families say that at least 400 Bangladeshis are still confined to the jungle camps. They are being tortured and forced to call home to ask their families to pay traffickers through mobile banking numbers.

One such victim is Redwan Ahmed.

He left his Panjair village home at Nabiganj in Habiganj on April 20 and later informed the family that he was going to Malaysia on a ship with the help of Sumon alias Mohon, a broker from Alitala village of the district.

After a month, Sumon, living in Malaysia, called Redwan's uncle Gulzar Hossain and demanded Tk 2.2 lakh be paid to his father Mohammad Fartab.

“To ensure Redwan's safety, his [Redwan's] mother sold a piece of land and paid Tk 2.1 lakh to Sumon's father. But he is still in confinement,” Redwan's aunt Rehana Begum told The Daily Star over the phone on Monday.

“On Sunday night [June 28] Redwan again called us and said the brokers would torture him if we did not send another Tk 1.5 lakh to a certain phone number [mobile banking number],” she said.

“This is very sad. His mother almost went insane. Please help us,” she said, adding that according to Redwan, there are “many others” in the jungle where he is kept.

Mohammad Muhid, 30, another victim from Sadarghat village in Nabiganj, told his brother Sayedul Ali over the phone that there were around 300-350 hostages in the Thai camps.

Referring to a phone conversation with his brother on June 26, Sayedul said brokers were demanding Tk 1.5 lakh for his release.

“I am now taking care of Muhid's four children in his absence in addition to my own family. This is becoming almost impossible for me. How can I manage the money for his release?” he said.

Nazma Begum, mother of Nasir Hossain of Araihazar, said they had sent Tk 2.1 lakh to a broker's mobile banking number as her son called for help from Thailand.

“The broker said he would take my son to Malaysia, but he is still in Thailand,” Nazma said, adding that there were 31 Bangladeshis with her son.

Others who have called from the Thai camps include Abu Bakkar, Munir Hossain and Shoyeb Ahmed Chowdhury of Habiganj and Emdadul Hossain of Sunamganj, this newspaper has learnt.

Three other families also reported the same to CARAMASIA, a Malaysia-based regional NGO that started a hotline in association with its partner NGOs in Bangladesh.

The organisation had earlier submitted a list of more than 500 Bangladeshis, who went missing since they began a sea journey for Malaysia early this year.

Al-Amin Noyon, a CARAMASIA volunteer in Dhaka, told this correspondent that reports from the families suggest many other victims are in captivity in Thai jungles.

“The real number would be higher and traffickers keep forcing victims to call back home for ransom,” he said, adding the victims are also getting life threats.

Some families sent the ransoms in late May and last month but the victims have neither been passed into Malaysia nor released, Al-Amin told this newspaper on Monday.