But these criminals are evading the grip of law due to lack of evidence against them, police officials investigating such cases said.

In most cases, people pay money to these agencies and brokers without taking any receipts.

A total of 111 cases of tricked job seekers have been lodged only with two city police stations alone in one and a half months, indicating a strong nexus between a section of manpower agencies and brokers.

The poor victims were found to have paid the brokers Tk 1.2 lakh to Tk 2.5 lakh which they managed by selling their belongings including cropland, and taking loans. And they are now in dire straits.

From March 1 to April 15, 39 cases were filed with Paltan Police Station and 72 with Motijheel Police Station under sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (breach of trust) of the Penal Code, according to police.

The number of people cheated by manpower brokers is much more than the number of cases being filed, police think.

"Rate of filing of such cases is higher than any other type of cases," said Sub Inspector Nurjahan of Paltan Police Station.

Cases of such deception had decreased significantly as the law enforcers launched a crackdown on manpower agencies and brokers in 2005 and 2006 following the Mediterranean Sea tragedy in December 2005 that killed 11 fortune seekers from Bangladesh. A month after that, 24 other Bangladeshi fortune seekers returned from the jaws of death being dumped in the Sahara desert.

The law enforcers later slowed down their drive, and this prompted the dishonest agencies and brokers to step up their deceptive activities, sources pointed out.

DISTRESS OF VICTIMS
Two victims of deception -- Mizanur Rahman and his uncle Anarul Islam -- were found at Paltan Police Station recently. They came all the way from Adarshapara in Jhenidah town to help police nab manpower broker Shah Alam Khokon, who had taken Tk 3.30 lakh from them four years ago promising them jobs in Saudi Arabia.

Once a wholesale rice trader, Anarul now works as a day labourer to make a living for his five-member family.

Mizan, who was an employee of a reputed toiletries company, is still jobless. He now moves from door to door seeking help to repay the money taken from a bank by mortgaging his ancestral house.

The two men had also sold out two bighas of cropland to pay the money demanded by the broker. They also had to sell other belongings including seven cows to collect money said to be required for visa.

They had paid Tk 1.40 lakh for two visas bought from one Basir, an accomplice of Khokan. Asked by Basir, they paid another Tk 1.90 lakh to Khokan towards the end of 2002. At the time he maintained an office with its signboard reading Aftab Aviation Service at Malibagh in the city.

Everything seemed to go on smoothly. They underwent medical tests twice but after that Khokan disappeared. He changed his cellphone number, removed the signboard of his office and moved to an unknown place.

Their dreams shattered, the two victims came to Dhaka at least 20 times until they found Khokan in an office without any signboard at Paltan around two months back. And they filed a general diary (GD) with Paltan Police Station.

They had to file only a GD as they could not lodge any case against Khokan or the manpower agency concerned as they had paid money without any receipt against it.

CRIMINALS EVADE PUNISHMENT
Police cannot properly frame charge sheets against the agencies and brokers as money is paid to them without any receipts or a written document, said SI Arshad Ali of Paltan Police Station, who is investigating such a case.

He also said filing a case involves Tk 5, 000 to 8,000. So, many victims refrain from doing this.

"In most such cases, we frame charge sheets based on verbal statements of witnesses, who usually do not turn up in court. So, the accused get bail easily," Arshad said.

Police officials said punishment for such convicts under sections 420 and 406 of the Penal Code is not severe.

The existing law provides for seven years and three years in jail respectively, with or without fine for such convicts, legal experts said.

Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Nayeem Ahmed admitted that the number of cases concerning deception by manpower brokers and agencies has marked a rise recently. "We have instructed police to take firm legal steps against the accused in such cases so that they cannot go unpunished," he said.

In reply to a question, he said they have no plan at this moment for any crackdown on unscrupulous agencies or brokers or taking steps to create mass awareness the lack of which is the main cause of such cheating.

Administrator of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) Muhammad Maqsudur Rahman however said they are contemplating a mass awareness programme in this regard through electronic and print media.

He also said the authorities have decided to make it mandatory for all recruiting agencies to submit copies of money receipts given to job seekers.

Meanwhile, 11 Bangladeshi job seekers were forced back home from Dubai Airport recently because of faulty passports, visas and other documents while immigration police at Zia International Airport (ZIA) held 20 job seekers for trying to go abroad with fake documents.

Earlier in 2005, immigration police held 31 Lebanon-bound women at ZIA as they had fake immigration clearance in their passports. They also arrested several officials of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Biman for involvement in the illegal migration process. Police submitted charge sheet in the case accusing 38.