27 November 2018

...Sekdah Somon and Buxoo Nabilah Bibi – the owners of the "Mr Price" home and furniture store in Vanuatu – were arrested and charged with 12 counts of human trafficking.

...Somon and Bibi allegedly brought in 12 people from Bangladesh illegally to find jobs in Vanuatu.

..92 people had been allegedly illegally brought to Vanuatu by the couple and their cases are yet to be dealt with and brought before the court.

...The victims were placed in various locations in Port Vila.

...[T]he couple allegedly arranged and facilitated their entry in Vanuatu using deception, denial of their freedom of movement, coercion or threat of violence exploited and placed them in servitude.

They said after the 12 Bangladeshi workers came to Vanuatu, the couple allegedly subjected them to slavery by engaging them in work under oppressive terms and conditions, under menace of penalty and without freedom to leave at any time.

There were allegations these workers were promised good money for jobs in Vanuatu but they have to pay them some money in return for the offer.

The sources said that some of them allegedly paid US$2000 to the couple, some paid US$3900, US$4000,US$5000, US$6000 and US$8000.

...While the couple are known as owners of Mr Price, sources said the investigation was still underway to check whether or not the company had a link with the global Mr Price.