Bangladeshi women being sold in China
Fooled by a gang, a widow in Chuadanga got her daughter married to a Chinese national named Cui Po Wei on July 1 last year, hoping that she would rise out of poverty.
The family was led to believe that the Chinese man had converted to Islam, worked at a factory in Gazipur, and would settle in Bangladesh permanently.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. But six months later, Lovely, not her real name, was taken to China by the man and forced into prostitution, according to a case filed by the mother with a Dhaka tribunal on March 31 this year.
On March 11, Lovely managed to call her mother using an app and told she was seriously ill because of the torture she was facing. She added that Bangladeshi traffickers had sold her to Cui Po Wei for Tk 10 lakh.
Lovely's mother told The Daily Star that she personally knew four other poor women who were duped into marrying Chinese nationals. The same group of local people who had duped her were involved in arranging those marriages.
Requesting anonymity, a resident of the capital's Uttara, who works for a Chinese firm, said he personally knew two groups of locals who actively look for gullible Bangladeshi women, especially the ones from indigenous communities of the hill tracts, and get them to marry Chinese citizens.
"I often see parties at restaurants in Uttara where Chinese men meet women from the hill districts. Sometimes, I see them preparing marriage registration documents. Some locals are members of the gangs."
He had heard that the local arrangers get from Tk 10-Tk 20 lakh for each woman who agreed to fly to China.
The people accused in the case filed by Lovely's mother are Cui Po Wei; Ji Yixian, a woman who introduced herself to the family as Wei's sister; Abdullah Al Mamun of Bogura, Faruq and Abdul Mannan of Chuadanga; Solaiman of Kashimpur; and Hafizur Rahman Mollah, a marriage registrar from Jatrabari in the capital.
"The accused are organised human traffickers who took advantage of our helplessness… and trafficked my daughter to China for sexual exploitation and forced prostitution," reads the complaint.
The Criminal Investigation Department is investigating the case.
On May 1 in Rangamati, a Chakma woman filed a case with Naniarchar Police Station, stating that a gang of traffickers held her sister captive at an unspecified place in the capital and may soon take her to China.
The complaint said the gang promised to admit the 21-year-old woman to a nursing institute and took her to Dhaka in a microbus. The gang later took indecent photos of her and forced her to marry a Chinese man.
A woman named Rika Chakma was accused in the case as the leader of the gang. Rika, who is from Khagrachhari's Dighinala upazila, lives in the capital's Uttara Sector-14. Seven named and four to five unidentified others were accused in the case.
On April 26, a 21-year-old Marma woman from Khagrachhari filed a case with Laxmichhari Police Station accusing five named and two or three unknown others of attempting to traffic her to China.
She was taken to a house in Uttara Sector-11 and was compelled to marry a Chinese man. Luckily, locals rescued her and caught three of the gang members on April 25 when the men were taking her to a government office in Khagrachhari to get a document for her passport.
The CID is investigating both cases.
In 2018, three women of indigenous communities were brought back from China through diplomatic efforts.
Chandra Dewan, head teacher of Ghagra High School in Kawkhali, Rangamati, said that in the last few months at least three young women from the area were taken to China, and two schoolgirls were recently rescued from traffickers.
Gautam Dewan, president of CHT Citizens Committee, urged the government to ensure that there is monitoring so that underprivileged women are saved from falling victim to human traffickers.
Noor E Alam Mina, deputy inspector general of Chattogram range police, said police were looking into the matter.
The Chinese embassy in Bangladesh in an email said the Chinese government protects the rights and interests of women and children and cracks down on human trafficking. Besides, the embassy is committed to safeguard the rights and interests of the Chinese citizens in Bangladesh.
Regarding Lovely's case, it said the embassy has not received any notification from the Bangladesh government.
[Our Rangamati correspondent Laltanlian Pangkhua contributed to this report.]
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