Trafficking racket of 3 Bangladeshis busted in Kuwait

Three Bangladeshis are running a human trafficking racket in Kuwait and one of them have been arrested, English-language daily Arab Times reported on Wednesday.

The report, which was citing Arabic-language daily Al-Qabas, also said that one of the three is a "member in the Bangladeshi parliament", but The Daily Star has not independently verified this claim.

The trio occupied "sensitive positions" in three major companies that brought more than 20,000 Bangladeshi menial workers into the country in exchange for large sums of money believed to be more than Tk 1,391.6 crore, the report said.

The Kuwait Ministry of Interior has nabbed a member of the racket for money laundering and trafficking in humans and visas, the report said.

The two other Bangladeshis have left the Gulf country after sensing trouble, the report said. The report, however, did not mention when the workers were brought into the Gulf country.

According to the data of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, some 12,299 Bangladeshi workers went to Kuwait for work in 2019. The previous year, 27,637 workers went to the country.

According to the Arab Times report, Kuwait's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have concluded through investigations that the three men have a large network of Bangladeshi employees working for them and are involved in visa trafficking.

The man the report claims is a member of parliament was said to have shuttled between Kuwait and Bangladesh and that his stay in Kuwait was no more than 48 hours. The report added that as soon as he found out that he would be investigated, he left Kuwait "a week ago".

The other accused is said to have gone to Europe from Kuwait, taking advantage of the company he works for, the report added.

He alone is said to have brought about 7,000 workers into Kuwait on cleaning contracts.

Quoting sources, Arab Times said the file of the company managed by the suspect was suspended after discovering the workers were not paid their salaries for more than five months.

Moreover, the report said that the workers who were brought in on government cleaning contracts by the company discovered that they were victims of visa traders because their salaries were lower than that stipulated in their contracts.

In another report published on Thursday, Arab Times said CID personnel were in the process of summoning those company officials for interrogation after completing the legal procedures.