Kuwait repatriates 126 Bangladeshi prisoners, deportees

Kuwait government today repatriated 126 Bangladeshi nationals who were either imprisoned or at deportation camps in the country on different grounds.

"A special flight of Jazeera Airlines carrying the Bangladeshi citizens landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 6:00pm," Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, director of HSIA, told media.

Earlier, three other countries in the Middle East -- Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia -- also repatriated several hundred Bangladeshi workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to media reports, the Kuwait government has taken steps to repatriate the expatriate prisoners like other countries in the region following the coronavirus outbreak.

Under a special amnesty of the Kuwait government, the process of sending back the expatriates from different countries, including Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, has started.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen earlier told media that some middle-eastern countries urged Dhaka to take back Bangladeshi "undocumented workers including the jail inmates".

Shahriar Sajjad, a doctor at the health desk of HSIA, said all the 126 Bangladeshi citizens were asked to stay in home quarantine for 14-days and were provided necessary instructions in this regard.

He also said the Bangladesh workers had medical certificates with them that showed all of them had tested negative for Covid-19.

Meanwhile, 73 Sri Lankan nationals, who were stranded in Bangladesh due to flight suspension amid Covid-19 pandemic, left Dhaka on a chartered flight this evening.

"A chartered flight of Sri Lankan Air carrying 73 Sri Lankan citizens left HSIA for Colombo around 6:30pm," HSIA Director Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan said.