Sent to Iraq with jobs non-existent

Artwork: Dibarah Mahboob

They targeted skilled workers and lured them with lucrative jobs in the middle east. They then took the victims to Dubai on tourist visas and then to Iraq. The human traffickers then sold them for Tk 3-4 lakh.

Many of the female victims ended up in brothels.

The Rapid Action Battalion yesterday arrested two alleged human traffickers, including the alleged kingpin, from Mirpur and Uttara areas in the capital. They seized passports, cheque books, laptops, 407 pieces of yaba, and a car from arrestees' possessions.

"This racket has trafficked 200-250 people to different countries in the middle east in the last five years… Of them, 35-40 are women," Commander Khandaker Al Moin, Rab's Legal and Media Wing director, told a press briefing at its media centre in Karwan Bazar yesterday.

The arrestees are: alleged kingpin Liton Mia alias Dr Liton, 44, and his associate Azad Rahman Khan, 65, who owns a manpower agency.

Rab said this racket has 15-20 members in several parts of the country.

Even though he is not a doctor, Liton claimed to be one. He also told his victims that he works in Baghdad.

Actually Liton was a medical assistant and was fired from his job.

"Liton used several techniques to traffic women. He married six, of whom five were trafficked," said the Rab official. Two of the women were present at the Rab briefing yesterday.

Sahana Begum, 30, (not her real name) said she received a call in early 2019 from a travel agent who asked whether she was interested in going to Iraq as a medical assistant.

When she gave her CV, Liton called her back and introduced himself as a doctor working in Iraq.

"Liton first wanted to know whether I was married, then he wanted a picture of mine, after which he made me a marriage proposal.

"After talking to family members, we got married. We reached his home in Iraq in February 2019. I found three more girls and then I suspected something fishy was going on. When he took me to his office, I saw 50-60 men and 10-15 women locked there," Sahana said.

She added that she fled Liton's house and went to a hospital in Iraq and showed her passport and CV where she got a job. In May 2019, she was able to return to Bangladesh.

"Liton was dismissed from his job in 2010 after indulging in immoral activities. In 2013, he went to Iraq and formed a racket. In 2016, he got acquainted to Azad, who owns a manpower agency in Bangladesh. Azad helped Liton traffic skilled workers to Iraq," Commander Khandaker said.

Liton was arrested twice in Iraq on human trafficking charges and was deported to Bangladesh, Rab said, adding that he was working as a contractor and supplier in Mohakhali.