A total of 19 workers, who returned empty-handed from Iraq being cheated by recruiting agencies, yesterday staged a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment in the capital, demanding that the government compel the agencies concerned to pay them compensation.
“Our Iraqi employer neither provided us with any jobs nor paid any salaries for 10 months. We had lost our money and time, but we are yet to see any government's move to resolve our problem,” Mozammel Haque, one of the returnees, told The Daily Star.
Between January and March last year, four recruiting agencies sent a total of 27 Bangladeshis including these 19 to Iraq to work for the M Kodia Company General Trading Company promising them lucrative salaries.
Each of them had to spend around Tk 4 lakh for landing an Iraqi job with a monthly salary of $350.
But their Iraqi employer failed to start his construction project and kept them in a camp, restricting their movement, Mozammel alleged.   
Later, Bangladesh government brought them back home following a pressure from their relatives.
Of the workers, 11 returned from Iraq in November last year, while another 11 in February this year. Five others still remain missing.
Meanwhile, the victims filed two cases with Airport Police Station against recruiters -- Morning Sun Enterprise, Meghna Trade International, and Bangladesh Migrants Foundation -- under the anti-human trafficking act after their return from Iraq.
Police has arrested Nasir Khan, proprietor of Meghna Trade International, and broker Jainul Abedin, who was known as chairman of Bangladesh Migrants Foundation, in these cases, they mentioned.
Of the 22 returnees, only three people received compensation from their two recruiting agencies -- Idea International, and East Bengal Overseas.
But the remaining 19 are yet to receive reimbursement from two other agencies -- Morning Sun Enterprise and Meghna Trade International, said Mosharaf Hossain, another demonstrator.
The victims had to take loans from different sources before their migration to Iraq. Of them, eight returnees had to take a loan of Tk 80,000 each from the government's Probashi Kallyan Bank.
Now the bank authorities are creating pressure on them to repay the loans, said Bokul Hossain Mondol, another victim.
“I don't have any regular income. How can I pay the bank loan when I struggle to manage food for my family?” he added.
Contacted, Expatriates' Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said the ministry couldn't do anything until the investigation into the alleged recruiting agencies comes to an end.
Asked whether the bank would waive the workers' loans, the minister replied in the negative.