Saudi national sent back for alleged involvement in human trafficking
The Special Branch (SB) of police has sent a Saudi national back to his country for involvement in various illegal activities. He faced allegations of human trafficking, nor paying hotel bills and cheating business partners.
The victims said not action had been taken against him despite repeated written complaints to the police and the Saudi embassy and they suffered huge financial losses.
This Saudi national, Saleh Obaid Alanazi came to Bangladesh in November 2016 on an arrival visa. His visa expired a month later and the passport expired on 22 July last year. He had been staying illegally in Bangladesh for the last four years. The Diplomatic and Protocol Wing (SCO) of SB sent him back to his country on a Saudi Airlines flight on Tuesday at the expense of the Bangladesh government.
According to SB’s information, a total of 41 Saudi nationals are staying in Bangladesh. Nine of them are staying legally while the visas of the remaining 32 have expired.
The SB has prepared a report on various allegations brought against , Saleh Obaid Alanazi. The report says Saleh Obaid had not paid the bills of Rafflesia Serviced Apartments in Gulshan for the last two years. On the contrary, he threatened them and even beat up the security guard.
The SB report said Saleh cheated three recruiting agencies of Bangladesh. He even hacked the password of Moon International website used to deposit Saudi visa fees. He forged business cards, stamps and seals of several recruiting agencies and used the name of owners of various agencies to bring in visas to carry out his own business.
Under the pretext of supplying Saudi visas, this Saudi national made off with around Tk 1 million (Tk 10 lakh) from God Gift International and Tk 1.8 million (Tk 18 lakh) from Mahbub International, two recruitment agencies.
Rashekul Islam, manager of Rafflesia Serviced Apartment, told Prothom Alo that Saleh Obaid stayed in one of their apartments from 30 November 2016 to January 2018. Despite repeated promises, he did not pay the outstanding bills of Tk 1.06 million (Tk 10 lakh 60 thousand). “He threatened us whenever we asked for the dues,” he said.
He said the police and Saudi embassy also did not take any action despite repeated complaints.
Mostafa Kamal, owner of Moon International, said that his business had almost collapsed because of Saleh Obaid. The Saudi embassy banned him after he lodged a written complaint against Saleh Obaid. He paid Tk 1.5 million (Tk15 lakh) for his license and also paid office rent month after month. Now he had lost everything.
Mostafa Kamal lodged a General Diary (GD) at Ramna Police Station in this connection.
An SB official, requesting to remain unnamed, told Prothom Alo that they had been investigating these allegations for a long time. His travel documents were not available which is why it took so long to take action against him.
The official added that they would send a letter to the home ministry to blacklist Saleh Obaid so that he never returns to Bangladesh.
Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury, general secretary of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agency (BAIRA), said certain persons come to Bangladesh and say there without any sort of business contract. They use recruiting agencies to send people abroad. When their debts grow, they simply disappear. The agencies bear the losses.
He went on to say that not all of them receive residence permits but many landlords rent out their houses to them. That gives them a chance to stay on and carry out their fraud. He said they had informed the concerned ministry so that the law enforcement agencies keep them under strict surveillance.
This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by NH Sajjad