Md Talat Mahmud Bayezid, a 28-year-old from Harirampur, Manikganj, left Bangladesh expecting a legitimate IT or mall job in Cambodia. Instead, human traffickers sold him to a Chinese-run cyber-scam centre for Tk3,60,000.
Bayezid is one of 221 Bangladeshis who recently returned home after being lured by fake employment offers and imprisoned in these illicit compounds.
His ordeal began when a broker, Kausar Habib, arranged a Tk7 lakh deal. Bayezid paid Tk5.45 lakh and handed over his passport, but upon arriving at Cambodia’s Techo Airport on 1 November 2025, he discovered he was on a tourist visa.
Local brokers Mintu and Saiful intercepted him, confined him to a hotel, and sold him to the scammers.
Inside the compound, a Chinese national held Bayezid captive, subjecting him to forced labour and torture until his family paid a $3,000 ransom.
He eventually returned home through a “Back Migration” initiative and filed an airport police case.
Disturbingly, most victims held valid Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) clearances, only to be betrayed by a network of Bangladeshi brokers cooperating with Chinese syndicates.
Torture cell and electric shock
Survivors returned with visible signs of abuse, describing how they were forced into round-the-clock online financial fraud.
Those who failed to meet targets or resisted were taken to torture cells, beaten with iron rods, and given electric shocks.
Their rescue was ultimately triggered by a recent Cambodian law enforcement combing operation, which forced the Chinese operators to flee and allowed the captive Bangladeshis to escape.
Returning victims from Cambodia bear deep physical and psychological scars, with survivors revealing that captives were confined to cramped rooms and forced to conduct online financial fraud day and night to meet strict quotas.
One anonymous victim recounted that if they refused to work or failed to meet their targets, they were taken to a “torture cell,” beaten with iron rods, and subjected to electric shocks. This extreme pressure only eased recently when a sweeping combing operation by Cambodian law enforcement forced the Chinese camp operators to flee, allowing the stranded Bangladeshis to escape.
Broker Apu’s ‘human trafficking’ empire
According to the returnees, a key figure in this trafficking ring is Abdullah Al Mamun Apu, a Cambodia-based kingpin originally from Mymensingh who left Bangladesh around 2015 and settled in Phnom Penh.
Operating with a Cambodian passport, Apu long evaded scrutiny by falsely claiming to be the general secretary of the Cambodian branch of the Awami League, a claim the party’s central leadership denies. Investigations showed that Apu heavily exploited the political vacuum following the 5 August 2024, government fall in Bangladesh, financially targeting fleeing politicians, which caused the influx of Bangladeshis into Cambodia to skyrocket. Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) data highlights this surge, showing that ,2408 Bangladeshis migrated there between January and April 2026 alone.
How the trap was laid
Seeking justice, survivor Md Talat Mahmud Bayezid filed a formal complaint on 15 June with Dhaka’s Airport Police Station alleging human trafficking and forced labour.
Registered as Case 16 (Annual 173) under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), the statement details how an organised syndicate lured him under the guise of a better life, naming travel agency operator Md Kausar Habib, 50, Cambodia-based brokers Mintu, 32, from Kushtia and Saiful, 42, from Noakhali, alongside four unidentified individuals.
The complaint details how Bayezid was introduced to Kausar through his aunt, Parul Begum, a retired schoolteacher from Khilgaon.
In August 2022, during a meeting at the “Subastu Nazar Valley ” building in Shahjadpur, Kausar offered Bayezid a job with a promised monthly salary of Tk6 lakh. On 10 September 2023, the deal was finalised at his aunt’s house for a total processing fee of Tk7 lakh. Bayezid initially handed over his passport along with Tk 1 lakh in cash, later transferring another Tk 4.45 lakh through bank channels.
On 26 October 2023, his flight ticket was purchased for 1 November, and at 9:00 AM on the day of his departure, Bayezid met Kausar opposite Gate 4 of Terminal 2 at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to hand over the final instalment of Tk 1.60 lakh.
‘Sold’ after reaching Cambodia
Bayezid boarded a China Southern Airlines flight at 12:50 PM, arriving at his destination at 11:30pm. Upon discovering he had been sent on a tourist visa rather than a work visa, a panicked Bayezid messaged Kausar via WhatsApp, who instructed his local associates, Mintu and Saiful, to pick him up.
Instead of taking him to a workplace, they dropped him off at “Hotel Royal A One,” where he was promptly sold to a Chinese cyber-scam centre.
Inside the compound, a Chinese national named Ko Wang forced Bayezid into gruelling manual labour, including cleaning drains.
When Bayezid resisted, he was brutally beaten, told he had been purchased for $3,000, and his torture was video-called to his family to extort money.
Desperate to save his life, his family borrowed heavily to pay the $3,000 ransom to Ko Wang.
Left destitute after his release, Bayezid managed to contact “Zak Migration,” and with their assistance, he and 53 other victims flew out of Techo International Airport on 1 June, 2026, arriving at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 2:00am, where he received medical treatment at the Zak Migration Welfare Centre before formally lodging his police case.
A terrifying new form of human trafficking
Shariful Hasan, Associate Director of BRAC’s Migration Program, highlighted that a Cambodian law enforcement crackdown enabled the rescue of these youths.
He emphasised that digital cyber-scamming is a terrifying modern form of human trafficking.
Since a survivor filed a case under strict anti-trafficking laws, authorities must seriously investigate and identify the local recruitment networks that sent victims on tourist visas despite official government clearances.
Syndicates aggressively advertise fake IT or call centre jobs via Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram. Consequently, the government and BRAC urgently warn citizens to rigorously verify all job offers for Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
