Efforts on to bring back detained nationals: FM

Bangladesh has sought Sunday consular access from Thailand to bring back its nationals who are now detained in Thailand for their alleged illegal entry, said Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.
The minister said that some 740 Bangladeshi nationals reportedly entered the neighbouring Thailand illegally at a press conference in the city.
The government, the minister said, is trying its best to bring back all the Bangladeshis detained in Thailand. Efforts are on and Bangladesh mission in Bangkok maintains contacts with Thai authorities to release them as early as possible.
The minister was addressing the press on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina' s participation in the  just concluded 10th ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Summit in Milan from where he returned with Prime Minister on Saturday mid-night. Secretary (bilateral) Mustafa Kamal who supplemented the minister at the press briefing, hoped that there would be no problem in bringing back the Bangladeshis after proper verification as Bangladesh maintains a good relations with Thailand. "We've sought consular access through Bangladesh Embassy in Thailand and hope to get it soon," said the acting Foreign Secretary Mustafa Kamal.
Mustafa Kamal also said the Thai government informed that a group of 118 people landed in a province near Phuket and they were taken in two groups. In the first group of 53 people, 38 claimed themselves as Bangladesh nationals, while the others said they were from Myanmar. "In the second group of 81, all except one, who was from Myanmar, said they were Bangladesh citizens."
The Thai authorities are now interviewing the detained people to confirm their identity. The interview of first group is at the final stage and the second  group's interview is also going on.
Director General (Americas and Europe) Muhammad Mahfuzur Rahman, Director General (South Asia wing) Tareq M Ariful Islam and DG (External Publicity Wing) Noor-E Helal Saifur Rahman were, among others, present at the media briefing.
Earlier, the BBC and the BBC Bangla reported that some 130 Bangladesh nationals have been rescued after being abducted and shipped to Thailand to be sold as 'slaves'. The rescued men were promised well-paid jobs before being drugged, bound and kidnapped.
Thai police recently found scores of sick and exhausted boat people hiding on a remote island and all but one of the 79 suspected human-trafficking victims were from Bangladesh.
According to press reports, some racketeers of human traffickers are engaged in abducting innocent men and boys luring them by false promises of work, then shipping them to Thailand and Malaysia. They are held there in jungle camps or houses until relatives secure their release by paying the traffickers a big amount of ransom - usually several thousand dollars each.

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