Bangladeshi nationals detained in Malaysia are facing a nightmarish situation as a syndicate is reportedly preying on them, forcing them to buy air tickets from a certain agency at inflated prices for their return.
Worst, some Bangladeshis allege that they did not get travel passes from the Bangladeshi High Commission in Kuala Lumpur in time to return home in case of lost passports, which forced them to languish in detention camps for extended periods.

The nexus collects information about the returnees from different detention camps. Besides, insiders of the detention camps provide the returnees with the number of the syndicate sometimes.

Later, the syndicate members, who often introduce themselves as employees and officers of the Bangladesh High Commission, contact their families back home and demand a handsome amount of money in the name of arranging a one-way air ticket for their return.

As the Bangladesh mission came to know about the malpractice, it issued a notification on 27 February urging all to stay alert to this end. “It comes to our notice that some people and agents introduce themselves as the officers of the high commission at the detention camps and assure the returnees of providing air tickets. It’s a punishable offence.”

It urged the relatives of the returnees to book air tickets on their own and send those to either the detention camps or the high commission.
It was alleged that some victims applied to the high commission for travel permits to return home on completion of their jail terms.

However, they did not get those in time unless they paid the money sought by travel agency NZ World Tours and Travels, some victims claimed.
They said the travel agency contacted their families and demanded Tk45,000-Tk60,000 from them for the return of their dear and near ones soon after they sought the travel permits.  
In case of refusal, the returnees did not get travel passes and they had to languish in detention camps for extended periods.

The Daily Sun has obtained some documents and voice records bearing proof of the malpractice.
Abdur Rahim, hailing from Jashore, went to Malaysia to change his fortune. However, the Malaysian police detained him last year and kept him in a detention camp there.

“Through my relatives, I booked an air ticket for returning home and placed it with the detention camp. But the ticket was not accepted. An insider of the camp asked me to book the air ticket only through NZ World Tours and Travels. I had no option but to buy another ticket at 1,850 Malaysian Ringgit through the agency though it needs only 500-700 Ringgit for such a ticket from other agencies,” said Rahim, who returned home on 25 February after suffering 100 days in the camp.

“Some 29 other Bangladeshis came back home on the same flight with me. All had to book tickets through the NZ agency,” he said.
Another victim Alamgir, hailing from Munshiganj, told the Daily Sun that the Malaysian police detained him on 24 January. “An insider of the detention camp, where Rahim was also kept, provided me with the phone number of Munna of the NZ agency,” he said.

Munna alias Mohamed Zillu is the business management director of the NZ agency.
But sources said Zillu and his wife are the owners of the agency. They have kept some names with some designations on the NZ website as a showpiece.

Alamgir said, “I was asked to contact Munna for my return. Through the camp phone, I contacted my wife and provided her with Munna’s number. After contacting him, my wife sent about Tk46,000 to the account provided by Munna,” he said.

“Later, I was given a return ticket by which I came back home on 8 March,” Alamgir said.
About 90 other Bangladeshis returned home from the detention camp on 25 February, and 6 and 8 March after obliging to buy return tickets through the agency, he said.
Mahbubur Rahman Akanda of Mymensingh and Shahidul Islam of Chattogram were arrested and sent to a detention camp last year.

After their jail terms, they applied to the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia for travel passes, but it did not provide those till March this year.

In the meantime after the end of the jail terms, the insiders of the camp provided them with the contact number of the NZ agency to their families, assuring them of sending them back to Bangladesh.
Mahbub’s wife Hazera Khatun told the Daily Sun that a man from the NZ agency called her and demanded Tk46,000 for her husband’s return, but she did not agree to pay the amount.

“My husband had to languish in jail for over six months though he was given a three-month detention for not getting a travel pass despite having the photocopy of his passport. On 23 October 2023, my husband applied to the high commission for a travel permit, but it was given on 12 March this year,” she said.
Mahbub will return home on Tuesday, she said.

The brother-in-law and sister of Shahid, another victim, told the Daily Sun that on 26 October, Shahid applied to the high commission for a travel pass by providing the necessary documents, but the travel pass was given very late for which Shahid had to suffer in the detention camp for additional time.

Shahid returned home on 12 March after getting the travel pass and spending about Tk60,000. A similar incident occurred to Mohammad Hasan and Anwar Hossain.
When contacted, Sufi Abdullah Al Mamun, the first secretary (Press) of the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia, told the Daily Sun that if the high commission gets summaries on detainees having passports which they somehow lost, it issues travel permits within a day.

“If anybody doesn’t have a passport, we try to confirm through the authorities concerned in Bangladesh whether they’re Bangladeshi nationals. After confirmation, we provide a travel permit. In such case, it takes some time,” he said.

About the NZ agency, he said the high commission does not know anything in this regard.
This correspondent has obtained some audio conversations believed to be of Zillu.

“In 2020, we added two directors to our company (the NZ agency) to boost our business. One of them is from a Dymm Johor Bahru’s Sultan family. The family mainly runs Johor Bahru and even Malaysia. Another is the ex-government high ranker of China,” Munna was heard saying in a conversation.

“Our fault is that we took additional money from returnees. It’s our fault. One who does wrong will have to suffer, we’re suffering too. In future, we won’t do this,” another conversation depicts.
 The manager of the NZ agency said that it used to take additional money from returnees, but after the new high commissioner came, it refrained from the practice. “On 19 February, we held a meeting with the counsellor (labour) of the Bangladesh High Commission. The counsellor suggested we issue a circular that the NZ agency is not committing the crime.”

When contacted, Munna declined to comment on the matter, telling this correspondent to contact Tuan Faizal, an officer of the Legal Department of the NZ.
However the office could not be contacted even after several attempts over the phone.
After failing to contact the officer, Munna was called again, but he did not receive it.