Scores of Bangladeshis rescued from Thai jungles

Thai authorities have rescued dozens of Bangladeshi nationals from a jungle, says the BBC. A BBC report said that they had been abducted and taken to Thailand to be sold as ‘slaves’. The men were promised well-paid jobs, before being drugged, bound and kidnapped, the report said. The government in Thailand says they are trying to fight the slave trade, but have been accused of ‘dragging their heels’ on the issue. The report, however, did not disclose the names of those rescued. On Saturday, Thai security forces arrested two men charged with human trafficking, following the discovery of 53 men in a rubber plantation. Thirty-eight of them were Bangladeshis and 15 were Rohingyas who came to Bangladesh from Myanmar. Chris Lewa, a Belgian researcher based in Thailand, directed the project. Human traffickers in Chittagong and a few in Malaysia and Thailand are key elements in this illegal trade chain that sucks in hundred of hapless poor Bangladeshis and Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh, the project found, according to bdnews24.com.