Staff Reporter :
Some 120 more Bangladeshi workers have been sent back home from Saudi Arabia on Saturday amid a crackdown despite having valid documents.
A flight of Saudi Airlines carrying the 120 workers landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 11:25 pm last night.
With them, the total number of returned migrant workers from the Middle Eastern country stood to 250 in last two days.
With them, around 11,000 to 12,000 Bangladeshi workers have so far been sent back home by the Saudi authorities this year, the Brac official said.
On Thursday night, 130 Bangladeshi migrant workers returned home from Saudi Arabia.
All of the last night’s returned workers are male, said Tanvir Hossain, assistant director of the Bureau of Manpower, Training and Employment (BMET).
On the other hand, 8,919 migrant workers returned to Bangladesh from different countries in September, Tanvir said.
However, all of these returned migrant workers were not abused or tortured abroad, he said, adding among the returnees were those who stayed overseas for even 18 to 19 years.
Some of the workers, who returned home Saturday night, alleged that the workers, ‘who have legal documents’ are also being detained by Saudi police.
Saudi authorities have arrested around 3.8 million foreigners as it continues its crackdown on labour and residency violators, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The country has been detaining people for violating residential, labour and border security regulations since November 2017.
A total of 3,790,173 people have been arrested, about 2.95 million for residency violations, 583,602 for breaking labour laws and 247,220 for flouting border regulations, the report said.
The latest figures indicate that 5,44,521 people were arrested since early June. The report said, 9,40,100 expatriates were deported since November 20 last year.
Earlier on 15 and 17 September, the Saudi Arabian authorities sent back 175 and 160 Bangladeshi workers home.
