A group of 30 Bangladeshi workers released from an immigration detention centre in Cambodia have finally been cleared to return home.
They are scheduled to arrive at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 12:10pm on a Thai Airways flight, TG-321, according to BRAC’s Migration Programme.
The workers are Md Harun Or Rashid, Md Abdul Wadud, Md Tarlib Hasan Titul, Sumit Chandra Das, Rakib Hossain, Bappi Das, Md Laban Sheikh, Md Abdur Rahman, Md Billal Hossain, Md Mostafa, Nur Nabi, Md Emon Ali, Md Barkatullah, Md Rubel Mia, Ali Ahmed, Zahidul Islam, Shamsul Alam, Md Abdur Rahman, Abu Zaher Sabuj, Shawon, Nahid Dhali, Raju Hossain, Md Toyeb Ali Sheikh, Saimon Bhuiyan, Md Rashedul, Md Akash Ahmed, Md Shimul Ali, Ashikur Rahman, Md Alamin PK and Mohammad Kabir.
They went to Cambodia in search of a better life but ended up trapped in scam centres, where they were forced to carry out unethical online work and tortured.
When the Cambodian government offered an opportunity to return home without paying fines, they registered to leave the country.
They arrived at Phnom Penh International Airport on Sept 3, but immigration police detained 32 people during checks over illegal stays and other complications.
Two were later released, while the other 30 were held at an immigration detention centre.
After the Anirban Survivor Voice Foundation, an organisation working for trafficking survivors, appealed on their behalf, the first secretary of the labour wing at the Bangladesh Embassy in Bangkok was asked to secure their release and swift return.
The workers headed home on Tuesday after the procedures were completed.