11 April 2019

Bangladesh has begun steps to bring home 101 trafficking victims stranded in Vanuatu after they were lured there with the promise of work that never materialized....

The migrants, who include two minors, have been stuck in the remote Pacific island nation...when four people were arrested on charges of trafficking them, and are living off handouts and rations.

...“They will send a team to Vanuatu and begin the national verification soon,” home ministry official Abu Bakar Siddique....

...The 101 migrants are all male and say they were duped by a network of brokers in the central Bangladeshi cities of Tangail and Barisal who transported them to Vanuatu via India, Singapore and Fiji over the last two years.

Lured by the promise of sales jobs in Vanuatu and nearby Australia, the Bangladeshis said they had sold property and taken out loans worth up to $20,000 to pay for the move....