Manhandling manpower

His organisation sends Bangladeshis out of the country by utilising fake passports, Hasan Fakir, a core member of a Dhaka-based manpower-trafficking syndicate, recently confessed. Fakir, who runs a labour-recruitment agency, was arrested by the authorities on 3 June. He was accused of illegally sending one Basir Uddin to Malaysia, and later demanding ransom from Basir's family in exchange for his release from the syndicate's custody.

As a 35-year-old betel-leaf-seller, it had become increasingly difficult for Basir to support an extended family that consisted of his parents, his wife and two children, and the families of three of his brothers. Basir made up his mind to go to Malaysia in May, after having been convinced by a neighbour, Idris Ali, that doing so could allow him at long last to provide his family with financial security. Idris offered to send Basir to Malaysia for an initial payment of BDT 50,000 (USD 725) and another BDT 20,000 after he began earning in Malaysia. After a verbal agreement, on 17 May Basir gave Idris BDT 52,000 along with his passport; the following day, Idris arranged Basir's flight to Malaysia. In his excitement, Basir did not bother to ask how the arrangements had been managed so quickly, nor the nature of the job awaiting him. At the Kuala Lumpur airport, he was received by a man named Lokman, a member of a Malaysian counterpart to Fakir's unnamed recruiting agency.