Indonesia finds 193 Bangladeshis locked up in shop house

The men entered Indonesia as tourists via Bali and the city of Yogyakarta with the intention of going to Malaysia for work, North Sumatra's immigration chief said.

Bangladesh men stand as they arrive at immigration detention center in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, February 6, 2019. (Source: Reuters)

Indonesian police found 193 Bangladeshis locked up in a shop house after human traffickers had lured them with the promise of getting them to Malaysia, an immigration official said on Thursday.

The men entered Indonesia as tourists via Bali and the city of Yogyakarta with the intention of going to Malaysia for work, North Sumatra’s immigration chief said.

“They are victims of human trafficking and were lured here,” Fery Monang Sihite said by telephone, adding that the men had been locked up in Medan on the island of Sumatra.

The men, who were described as in a healthy condition when they were found on Tuesday night, had been taken to an immigration detention centre and would be sent back to Bangladesh, Sihite said.

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One of the men, named as 39-year old Mahbub, was quoted by online news portal Tribun Medan as saying that some of the group had been held by the traffickers for three months.

“All of us were conned. The destination was meant to be Malaysia. We left from Bangladesh to Bali and arrived here after taking a four-day bus trip,” Mahbub was quoted as saying.