KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 20: Taking advantage of the suspension of Bangladeshi manpower recruitment by most of the Middle Eastern countries, the middlemen are cheating poor jobseekers and increasing their sufferings by keeping them stranded in the airports.
Lured by the promise of high salaries, everyday a substantial number of Bangladeshi jobseekers are reaching airports of Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and Turkey with fake visas either to enter those countries or nearby countries like Libya and other Middle Eastern states.
Most of them remain stranded for 15 to 20 days or more before successfully entering to their destined countries.
On Wednesday, nearly 50 such ill-fated jobseekers were found roaming around at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) who had been staying there ranging from 10 to15 days and were doubtful if they would ever be able to reach their destination.
"Everyday new groups of Bangladeshi people are coming here with fake visas, namely, 'rubber stamp' with a dream to change their fate. But their dreams fade as they wait for weeks and months to reach their destinations," said Jahangir Alam, 45, of Tangail district who is stranded at KL airport since March 4.
Mr Alam, who worked in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for seven years, but failed to earn a good sum, returned to Bangladesh about two years back. Later, he contacted one Joinal Miah, a middleman in capital's Uttara area who assured him of a job in Libya with a monthly salary of Tk 40,000.
He will have to pay a total of Tk 300,000 to the middlemen, a portion of which has already been paid.
"During the last 15 days I am leading an inhuman life in this airport. I can neither have bath nor shave and have to sleep on the airport floor. Everyday a good amount of money have to be spent to eat in the airport hotel," said Mr Alam, father of a two already married girl who left his wife alone at home.
Abul Hossain, 25, a day-labourer by profession, also left Dhaka for Libya and became stranded in KL airport said, "Nowadays the scope of work is comparatively much higher in Libya than Malaysia.
"So, many job seekers prefer to go to Libya even paying Tk 400,000. But the process of reaching there is time consuming and in some cases you may have to remain stranded in airports for months, or return to Bangladesh for a fresh journey through other routes," said Mr Hossain who had to wait two years after paying money to middlemen to go abroad.
Jamal Hossain, 35, of Cox's Bazar district paid Tk 435,000 to middleman to get a job in Libya. But his dream to earn a good sum has been shattered after being stranded at KL airport for weeks.
"Please, ask the people not to fly with fake visas. There is no surety of reaching the final destination. We are the live examples of cheating by middlemen."
Amirul Islam of Kushtia, an electrician by profession, was earning Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000 a month in his remote village. "One of my cousins is in Tripoli said he earns Tk 80,000 a month. So, I took the risk to go to Libya but unfortunately became stranded in KLIA."
A gang of manpower traffickers reportedly spend a good sum in the airports to send job seekers abroad with fake visas. The gang puts visas on passports using rubber stamps made by themselves.
Small trader Jamal Hossain from Kachua, Nur Islam from Manikganj, Taslim from Kushtia and Rajib Howlader from Madaripur are some of the many ill-fated people who are counting days in the KL airport to get a clearance from middlemen in Libya.
"At every airport there are some middlemen who 'manage' respective immigration officials to help the entry of illegal job seekers. But our middlemen in Dhaka probably spend less money this time, thus middlemen in KLIA and Libya are not taking proper steps to send us Tripoli," said Rajib Howlader.
Rajib failed to secure a job as police constable despite spending huge amount of money. Latter, he left Dhaka for Libya three weeks ago but became stranded in KL airport.
"The problem is that legal recruitment of workers from Bangladesh is suspended by almost all the major countries. There is no visible hope of their reopening. So, unemployed and low income people like me go to the middlemen despite being aware of the possible risks as they have no other options," he said.
On an average you will see 30 to 35 illegal Bangladeshi job seekers roaming around in t KL airport, Rajib said describing his experience of the last couple of weeks.
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