143 Bangladeshi irregular migrants detained in Libya reach home

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – About 143 Bangladeshi irregular migrants, who were kept in detention centers in Libya's capital Tripoli, returned home with the help of UN refugee agency.

Chartered flights of International Organization for Migration carrying 143 migrants landed in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday, and more migrants are set to reach Dhaka on Dec. 5, according to the Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry.

Some 466,666 Bangladeshi expatriates returned permanently in the past two years, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

However, over one million Bangladeshis left the country in search of better employment opportunities in other countries in the last one year till June 2023, according to official data.

Shariful Hasan, head of BRAC's Migration, a Dhaka-based non-government organization working on migration, told Anadolu that the organization was "involved in supporting 968 returnees from Libya."

“As we learned from the migrants returning from Libya, they undertook risky sea voyages to reach Europe for better living,” he said.

In the last two years, Bangladesh sent over 2 million migrants until October this year, Hasan said.