Taking the advantage of gap between demand and supply of manpower, a human-trafficking racket is sending Bangladeshis to Sri Lanka in visit visas.
On Saturday, Sri Lankan police arrested three Bangladeshis, who it said were in the country without any valid documents.
The Bangladesh mission in Colombo says it fears there are more illegal Bangladeshis in the Indian Ocean island as an international racket trafficking is involved.
“Now we are discussing with the Lankan government to set up a system in which if any Bangladeshi is apprehended, the authorities in primary stage contact with us so that we can provide our support,” High Commissioner Riaz Hamidullah told Bangla Tribune.
Since Apr 21 Easter Day series bombings, reportedly claimed by the Islamic State, Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency, which means the government is not obligated to report missions in case of arrest of foreign nationals.
Citing police officials, Sri Lankan media reported that three Bangladeshis aged at 32, 28, and 12 were arrested from Mulleriyawa-Kelanimulla town, some 9 kilometres west from capital Colombo.
“They are victims [of human trafficking]. They were working at a local bakery for the last four or five months,” said the Dhaka envoy.
According to him, the Bangladeshis wanted to return but following the attacks, which left over 200 people killed, the bakery owner handed them over to police.
“Actually there were four [Bangladeshi workers at the bakery] and one has valid documents,” Riaz said before adding, “Later police released him and he reported to us.”
He was debriefed at the high commission, when officials got a clear picture about how he arrived to Sri Lanka, he said. “Now we are engaged with the Lankan government to release the three victims,” he said.
Harun, a weaver from Tangail, paid Tk 200,000 to middlemen in Bangladesh for the visa and was received by a Bangladeshi at the Colombo airport.
“That means that the racket has people here as well.
It needs to be stopped and it is high time for all stakeholders to work together to curb the menace,” said High Commissioner Riaz.
Four days after the bombings, on Apr 26, eleven Bangladeshi workers of a factory owned by one of the suspected suicide attackers were sent back to Dhaka.
Bangladesh police told the media the next day that they were working at the factory despite having tourist visas and that they didn’t have criminal record.
They worked at the copper factory owned by Inshaf Ibrahim, a 33-year-old who detonated his explosive device at the busy breakfast buffet of the luxury Shangri-La hotel on Apr 21.

Sri Lanka has shut down the factory and sent back its foreign workers to their countries.