Fake job offer in Kyrgyzstan: 3 of a trafficking syndicate held

Sona Mia, 39, a rickshaw-puller in Rajbari, saw an advertisement on YouTube in December last year, that a company -- "Jannat Trade International" -- offers working visas for washing cars in Kyrgyzstan.

A monthly salary of Tk 60,000 to Tk 65,000 will be paid for the job, said the advertisement.

Allured by the offer, Sona Mia contacted the company, which asked for Tk 5 lakh for the visa, plane ticket, and Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training card.

With dreams for a new beginning, he sold his rickshaw, cattle and house to arrange Tk 5.12 lakh and paid it to Jannat Trade on March 12. Upon payment, the company gave him the said documents and asked him to come to Dhaka airport on April 7 for departure.

But the dream turned into a nightmare as the immigration official informed Sona Mia that the documents were fake. Two other fortune seekers -- Akash Sheikh, 21, and Akter Sarder, 23 -- trying to travel to Kyrgyzstan with fake plane tickets and visas from the same company were also sent back from the airport.

"I realised that I got scammed. When I contacted the company, they offered to arrange the plane ticket again, but stopped all communication afterwards," Sona Mia told The Daily Star recently.

He then filed a case with Paltan Police Station.

The counter-trafficking unit of CID arrested three persons from different areas of the capital on Monday, for embezzling money and attempting to traffic people. The arrestees are Ibrahim Mallic Nahid, 35, owner of Jannat Trade International, and his two associates -- Laboni, 36, and Arifur Rahman Sadi, 24.

Shajahan Hossain, in-charge of the unit, said, "Jannat Trade International has no manpower or even airline ticketing licence. The company just received tours and travel licence in November of last year, but they were involved in sending people abroad for over a year."

In primary interrogation, the arrestees admitted that they had sent six people to Kyrgyzstan on 59-day tourist visas.

CID communicated with three of them, and they said before sending them to Kyrgyzstan, the company assured them of providing jobs at garments, chocolate factories and food packaging factories.

"But none of them got any jobs, and they are passing miserable days in Kyrgyzstan now. We are trying to know how many people fell victim to the company and are stuck in the country now," said Shajahan, also an additional SP of CID.

The CID team recovered 33 people's files from the company's office in Paltan.

"We suspect that these people also fell prey to the company. We are now investigating whether they paid the company any money or not," said the CID officer.

TRANSNATIONAL SYNDICATE

According to CID officials, Kyrgyzstan has become a popular route for trafficking over the last year as it is a Central Asian country and very close to Europe.

The syndicate uses Dubai as transit on a visit visa and then sends people to Kirgizstan from there.

"We suspect a transnational syndicate is working behind this trafficking, whose task is to ensure the journey to Kirgizstan. The syndicate does not take any responsibility afterwards," he said.

"We are also investigating how these people are getting the BMET cards," he added.