Malaysian firm probed for human trafficking after 93 Bangladeshi workers found abandoned

Malaysian authorities are investigating a construction firm that allegedly brought in 93 Bangladeshi migrant workers, only to leave them languishing without jobs or accommodation, in a human-trafficking case that activists say could include employees who are yet unaccounted for.

The Ricoler Construction Company could face charges under several laws for failing to house its workers and pay them wages. It is also being probed for breaching anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling laws, which carry a 15-year prison sentence and fines.

The workers’ plight came to light after personnel from Malaysia’s immigration and anti-trafficking agencies on Monday rescued them from a shop in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Cheras, where they had been stranded since November.

The Home Ministry and Human Resources Ministry released a joint statement saying the workers’ welfare had been neglected. “All rescued victims were taken to [the immigration department’s headquarters in] Putrajaya for documentation before being brought before the Magistrate to obtain an Interim Protection Order,” it said.

Migrant activist Andy Hall, who blew the whistle on the workers’ situation last Friday, said there were at least 50 more Bangladeshi workers from the same group that had yet to be rescued from the Cheras shop lot premises, located above a tyre workshop.

“These workers arrived at the location just a few days ago, and are managed by the same agent, it is alleged,” Hall wrote in a letter to the Malaysian authorities.

The incident follows another in December, when 171 Bangladeshi workers were arrested after they arrived at a police station in Pengerang, Johor, to file a report against their employer for leaving them in a similar predicament.

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