BartaBangla Desk :: Brazilian police said to have rescued 80 trafficked Bangladeshis who were forced to sub-standard lifestyles in that country after being lured with false promises of a better life.
In hopes of earning $1,500 a month, these Bangladeshis had paid their smugglers nearly $10,000 each in advance to get a job in the South American country, a BBC report said quoting a local news agency Agencia Brasil.
The workers – who ended up as slave labours – were said to have been found in eight houses in Samambaia town near Brasilia, according to an investigator.
“They worked at freezer warehouses, buildings and car-washing sites.”
The Bangladeshis travelled almost 16,000 kilometres through Peru, Bolivia into Brazil, Agencia Brasil reported quoting Federal Marshal Dennis Kelly.
After entering Brazil illegally, the Bangladeshis said to have pleaded shelter to the country’s government.
Arrest warrants have been issued against 14, four of whom were identified as the masterminds behind the trafficking.
A ‘Times of India’ report said that the Bangladeshi High Commission in Brazil was shocked to hear the news. But it said to have assured complete assistance to Brazil government in this matter.
Brazil’s National Council for Refugees is likely to decide the fate of the 80 Bangladeshis.
It is said that in wake of increasing Bangladeshi refugees, Brazil police conducted special raids codenamed ‘Freedom’. It was during one such raid that the 80 were found.
The ‘Times of India’ report said in 2010, 39 Bangladeshis sought shelter under political asylum from government of Brazil. The next year the number of asylum seekers increased to 111.
One Bangladeshi, Milad Ahmed, 35, told a local Brazilian media that he was taken there on assurance of work in a poultry farm in Parana area. Now, he does not have a penny, or a job.
He said he was willing to work in butcher-houses, construction firms or an Indian restaurant in Brazil rather than come back and face harassment in home.
Brazil’s Secretary of Justice, Paul Abraham, said to have assured security for those forced to sub-standard lifestyles after being trafficked there.