DHAKA, 08 October 2021, (TON): After serving two years in prison for illegally entering India, 20 Bangladeshi teenagers, who were victims of human trafficking, today returned to the country through the Benapole land port.

India's Petrapole Immigration Police handed over the 11 boys and nine girls to Benapole Immigration Police this evening, reports our Benapole correspondent.

Mojibur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Benapole Immigration Police, confirmed the development to media.

OC Mojibur said they were trafficked by middlemen around two and half years ago from different districts – Noakhali, Narail, Narayanganj, Barishal, Khulna, Kishoreganj, Jashore, Satkhira, and Naogaon.

A non-government organisation (NGO), Justice and Care, has taken custody of the returnees and will provide them with legal assistance, the official also said, adding that they have been taken to the NGO's shelter home to be later handed over to their respective families.

ABM Muhit Hossain, senior programme officer of the NGO, told The Daily Star that the teenagers were lured by traffickers with promise of employment opportunities and were trafficked to India to be engaged in risky activities in Kolkata.

On information, law enforcers in Kolkata arrested them during drives. They were then sentenced to two-year imprisonment by a Kolkata court and sent to jail. Later, an Indian NGO took the teenagers into their custody and provided them legal assistance to help them return to Bangladesh with necessary travel permits, Muhit added.

He added that “the returnees will remain in 14-day institutional quarantine at Gazir Dargah in Jashore and will be provided with necessary legal and employment assistance.”