As many as 114 Bangladeshi nationals detained in Libya have returned home.
A special flight carrying the returnees arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 8.00am on Thursday, according to the Dhaka office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The returnees were detained in Libya when they were trying to reach Italy via Libya, said Ziaul Haque, additional superintendent of police at the Airport Armed Police Battalion.
Every returnee was provided food and financial assistance of Tk 4,750 by IOM, he said.
He further said that these returnees went to Dubai, Oman, Malaysia on visit visas from Bangladesh at different times of 2021. From there, they went to Libya by paying brokers up to Tk 11-15 lakh each.
But they were detained by Libyan law enforcers in Tripoli at different times. Some of them served six to nine months in jail.
Later, the United Nations migration agency facilitated their return to Bangladesh.
According to Bangladesh Embassy in Libya, after the embassy’s best efforts, it has been possible to repatriate 114 Bangladeshis detained in Libya’s Detention Center No 55 with the help of IOM.
Major General SM Shamim-Uz-Zaman, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Libya met the returnees at Mitiga International Airport in Liba and bade them farewell.
