A cross-border human trafficking syndicate is entrapping young Bangladeshi jobseekers with fraudulent promises of lucrative European employment, funneling them into underground torture cells across Libya to extort massive ransoms. Working in tandem with armed Libyan militias, the transnational network subjects victims to extreme physical violence while using domestic accomplices in Bangladesh to extract funds directly from distressed families.

Payment guarantees neither safe passage to Europe nor repatriation. Captives are regularly abandoned in barren stretches of the Sahara or forced onto flimsy, unseaworthy vessels in stormy Mediterranean waters, where dozens drown when dinghies capsize.

Aminul Islam, a resident of Tiler Char in Babuganj Upazila, Barishal, endured two months of captivity before securing his release and returning home. He identified the ringleaders as Babu Chowdhury of Nazirpur, Pirojpur, along with his maternal uncle Deen Islam, and Khairul Molla of Chitalmari, Bagerhat. Aminul had agreed to pay 1.2 million taka for guaranteed entry into Italy, handing over 825,000 taka in cash and carrying an additional 200,000 taka in foreign currency.

The criminal outfit operates with logistical support inside Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. On the day of departure, airport facilitators used assigned code names to guide Aminul through immigration checks and issue boarding passes. Travelling on a tourist visa through Jeddah and Egypt, he landed at Benghazi Airport, where Libyan handlers immediately seized his passport, escorted him through a service exit, and transferred him to a high-security detention compound termed a “game house”. Between 250 and 300 other hostages were already detained at the site.

Inside the facility, captors filmed severe beatings and sent the footage to Aminul’s family, demanding two million taka in ransom. Despite selling farmland and borrowing one million taka to satisfy the demand, the syndicate refused his release. Local operatives later confiscated Aminul’s motorcycle, worth 350,000 taka, from his home in Barishal before his captors finally let him go.

Aminul described squalid desert camps situated between Benghazi and Tripoli where defaulters are shot and buried in unmarked sand graves. Those who manage to pay are pushed onto perilous sea crossings in rough weather with minimal safety equipment.

Following his return, Aminul lodged a formal criminal case against the traffickers, leading police to arrest Monjur Islam, brother of prime suspect Deen Islam. However, Aminul stated that he and his relatives continue to face persistent threats from the syndicate.