A Cox’s Bazar court yesterday directed the authorities concerned of Cox’s Bazar unit Red Crescent to hand over the 17 teenage boys among 159 Bangladeshi trafficking victims, who were brought back home from Myanmar on Monday, to their respective family members, reports UNB. Cox’s Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate Sushanto Prashad Chakma passed the order on Tuesday when they were produced before the court in the morning.
Meanwhile, Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal Chowdhury, general secretary of Cox’ s Bazar district unit Red Crescent Society, said, “I took the 17 rescued teenagers to my care following the court order, and the process for handing them over to their families is underway.”
All the 17 victims, he said, hail from different parts of Narayanganj, Barisal, Chittagong, Narsingdi and Faridpur districts. Of the 159 victims, the rest 142 Bangladeshi trafficking victims were being quizzed at the Cultural Center of Cox’s Bazar town and they will be sent back to their respective villages by Wednesday, said additional superintendent of Cox’s Bazar police Tofail Ahmed.
Earlier, a total of 159 Bangladeshi trafficking victims who were rescued by Myanmar authorities on May 29 were brought back home from the neighbouring country on Monday after a flag meeting between their border guards.