In view of the presence of any full-fledged visa issuing authority for the tourists for Malaysia, an unholy circle has been continuing unscrupulous practice of ‘e-visa’ for human trafficking from Bangladesh to Malaysia, despite the fact that Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka has made its tourists visa system strict and kept suspended for the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The high commission, without getting sufficient information, is not issuing any visa for visitors as yet, according to sources.
Within such restrictions, the unholy circle has not refrained from issuing so-called e-visa. Sources further alleged that such an unholy circle managed e-visas from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and other countries for Bangladeshi people. The unauthorised circle charged around Tk 300,000 per head and more than 500 Bangladeshis entered Malaysia through this process from April 1 to April 13, as per version of sources of different Malaysian agencies. According to Bangladeshi Diasporas in Malaysia, most of the trafficked people are sent to the jungle areas of the country to participate in hard labour at very low wages.
Due to the halt in migrant worker visas, applicants are waiting eagerly with plenty of frustration as such the evil quarters are exploiting the situation to deceitfully earn huge sums of money by human trafficking. The Bangladeshi Diasporas in Malaysia requested all concerned not to be trapped on e-visa related unscrupulous activities. The Malaysian authorities are conducting operations to search and stop forced labour and the hiring of low wages workers.
The Malaysian authorities opened 1,285 investigation files and fined 107,000 Ringgits by filing cases against 135 alleged companies from February 2021 to March 2022. As per the anti-human trafficking law of the Emerging Asian country, one may be sentenced from 15 to 20 years jail. The relevant authorities must investigate the ongoing unholy practice and take necessary measures to stop further human trafficking from here to Malaysia in the best interest of our nation.
