Thirteen Bangladeshi nationals, including four children, returned home this morning through the Benapole check post after two years of imprisonment in India.

Petrapole Immigration Police of India handed them over to Benapole Immigration Police for the travel permit process at 8:00am.

Azharul Islam, OC of Benapole Immigration Police, said human traffickers took them to Kolkata, India, two and a half years ago, promising good jobs. The traffickers abandoned them at Sialdaho Railway Station in Kolkata. Police arrested them there within three days. Later, the court sentenced them to two years in jail.

After the end of the sentence, Rescue Foundation, a human rights organisation in Kolkata, sheltered them.

They were handed over to Justice Care, an NGO, which now will facilitate their reunion with their families, said Sumon Bhakto, officer-in-charge of Benapole Port Police Station.