By IANS,
Dhaka : At least 12,000 Bangladeshis are in jails in foreign lands, according to a study published Friday. Most of them were caught while trying to illegally travel abroad.
The study does not include statistics from the US and Britain, where some Bangladeshis are suspected to be involved in Islamist militancy. It also provides no information regarding neighbour India.
Of those in jails, over 2,500 have been convicted while the trial of others is at different stages according to the ministry of overseas employment and expatriate welfare, the study published in The Daily Star said.
Of the estimated 12,000 detainees as of March this year, 9,995 are in Saudi Arabia where over two million Bangladeshis work. At least 1,000 are in jails in Malaysia, where about 130,000 Bangladeshis work.
The number of Bangladeshis in prisons in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is 627 while 225 are imprisoned in Singapore, the study said.
Of those in jails, 922 have been convicted in Saudi Arabia and 574 in the UAE. The number of Bnagaldeshis convicted in Kuwait is 209 while in Singapore it is 217. In Malaysia, 398 have been convicted. The number in Russia is 92.