11 Bangladeshis languishing in Tanzanian jail

At least eleven Bangladeshis have been languishing in a Tanzanian jail for around seven months, as unauthorised brokers abandoned them in the East African country without travel documents.
The news came to the knowledge of the victims' relatives when a Pakistani national, who had met the similar fate, sent a letter to Bangladesh after returning home this February.
The job-seeking Bangladeshis ended up in the Tanzanian jail last November as they failed to produce their passports and were unable to pay the penalty for that, Jahinur Rahman Shamrat, a victim from Manikganj, wrote in a letter to his father in February.
Relatives said at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters' Unity yesterday that the brokers promised the people lucrative jobs in South Africa in exchange for around Tk 9 lakh each.
Amid such plights, the stranded Bangladeshis are appealing to the government to bring them back.
The victims include Ohid Hawlader, 28, of Munshiganj; Biltu Miah, 28, and Kalachan, 19, of Manikganj; Mohammad Russel, 24, of Gazipur; Enamul Huq of Comilla; Ali Nur of Brahmanbaria; and Mohammad Faruq of Dhaka. Identities of the remaining ones are yet to be known.
Larburu Khatun, mother of Biltu Miah, said, "I have sold the last piece of land to send my son abroad. Now, I have nothing as I don't know the whereabouts of my son".
She said a local broker, Shahabuddin, involved with recruiting agency Raj Overseas took Tk 9 lakh each from her son and two other villagers for sending them to South Africa.
But, later Biltu Miah told her over phone that he was taken to Tanzania after a couple of months' journey on road through Uganda and Kenya, she said. When she asked Shahabuddin, he said he would reach them to South Africa, she added.
Rafiqul Islam Khan, coordinator of SHISUK, an NGO, which organised the press conference, said the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) had asked for Tk 88,500 each for bringing the detained Bangladeshis back home from Tanzania, which was quite impossible for the parents and relatives to afford.
He urged the government to take initiative to bring the Bangladeshis back.