For more than a year, Shakil Ahmed from Sunamganj Sadar survived in Libya on a single meal a day -- a piece of hard, stale bread; some vegetables; and half a litre of water.
With a dream of finding a better life in Europe, Shakil, a college student, accepted a broker’s offer to take him to Greece for Tk 10.5 lakh in 2023. He flew to Egypt via Dubai and was then taken to Libya by road.
The 21-year-old never made it to Europe. Instead, he, along with 147 others, remained stranded in Libya.
Finally, he was brought back home at the end of 2024 with the help of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Shakil, whose father died years ago, said his mother and sister borrowed Tk 10.5 lakh from relatives and other sources to finance his journey.
“The money I paid the broker has not yet been recovered. My family is still trying hard to gradually pay off the debt,” he said.
His narrative underscores a persistent reality: the mounting number of deaths and systemic exploitation have not deterred Bangladeshis from taking perilous journeys from Libya to European shores.
UNHCR data show that in 2025, Bangladesh was at the top of the list of countries whose citizens arrived in Europe through the Mediterranean. At least 20,259 Bangladeshis reached Europe by sea, accounting for 30.5 percent of total arrivals -- far ahead of Egypt (9,115), Eritrea (7,583), Pakistan (4,397), and Sudan (4,223).
The trend persisted in the first two months of 2026, as Bangladesh again topped the list of sea arrivals to Europe with 1,358 entries, ahead of Somalia (557), Pakistan (383), and Egypt (317).
These figures come despite persistent reports that many Bangladeshis have been detained and physically abused in Libyan camps. Human trafficking gangs held many of them hostage to extort money from their families, while many others lost their lives during treacherous sea voyages from Libya to Europe.
In the latest such tragedy, at least 18 Bangladeshis died while trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Greece. The incident came to light after a boat with several other Bangladeshis reached Greece on March 30.
Several officials of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) told this newspaper that around 70,000 people, mostly aged between 25 and 40, went to Europe via the notorious sea route over the last decade.
A significant number of them are from Madaripur, Shariatpur, Sunamganj, and Habiganj, where brokers continue to lure people with promises of jobs and a better life in Europe, they said.
A recent BRAC study found that 60 percent of the over 2,000 fortune seekers it surveyed had been promised good jobs, but 89 percent of them found no work after reaching Libya. At least 63 percent of them were detained along the way, and 93 percent of the detainees were held in camps. Among them, 79 percent suffered physical abuse.
According to the study, 68 percent said they lost their freedom of movement after reaching Libya. About 54 percent said they never got three meals a day, while 22 percent said they received only one meal a day.
Most travelled from Dhaka to Libya through Dubai in the UAE and Egypt, while others travelled via Istanbul, Qatar, or Syria.
Shariful Hasan, associate director of BRAC’s Migration Programme, said there has recently been a change in destination for Bangladeshi fortune seekers.
In recent months, many Bangladeshis who had earlier tried to enter Italy are now attempting to reach Greece from Libya, he pointed out.
“Our concern is that thousands more are now waiting in Libya for the same perilous journey,” he told The Daily Star.
Trafficking networks, once concentrated in areas near Tripoli and Zuwara, have expanded across Libya’s coastline. “New departure points, including Tobruk in the east, are increasingly being used to send boats towards Greece.”
Shariful said the desperation to reach Europe is so intense that many Bangladeshis who were rescued during sea voyages remain unwilling to return home, even after their near‑death experiences.
He called for stronger government action at home as well as greater engagement with Libya, Greece, and Italy to dismantle trafficking networks and prevent further deaths.
Migration expert Asif Munir said that a highly organised and powerful transnational network is involved in human trafficking through the Mediterranean, making it difficult for any single country to tackle the issue on its own.
“It can only be effectively curbed through coordinated efforts among all countries connected to this route,” he told The Daily Star.
Munir also stressed the importance of increasing public awareness and enforcing stricter immigration controls to tackle the issue more effectively.
Contacted, Md Nurul Haque Nur, state minister for expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment, said the government has been carrying out awareness campaigns in areas where a significant number of people appear willing to embark on perilous journeys to Europe.
He said the campaigns are meant to warn people that these journeys carry grave risks and also damage Bangladesh’s image abroad, as undocumented migration creates many problems for destination countries.
The state minister further said the government’s legal scope for intervention remains limited because these migrants do not use formal channels.
CID officials said that over the last few years, there has been a rise in the number of human trafficking victims repatriated through initiatives by the Bangladesh embassy in Libya with support from the IOM.
At least 3,463 Bangladeshis were brought back home from Libya last year compared to 2,008 the previous year. The number was 646 in 2023 against 143 in 2022, according to a database of the Trafficking in Human Beings Unit of the CID.
Mohammad Badrul Alam Mollah, special superintendent of CID’s Serious Crime Unit, said, “Thousands of Bangladeshis entered Europe last year through irregular routes, the highest in recent times. Several routes are being used to reach Italy via Dubai.
“In many cases, people fall prey to fraudulent syndicates that lure them with promises of quick and substantial earnings abroad. To address this, we are focusing on raising public awareness,” he said, adding that campaigns have been launched and documentaries are being produced to highlight the dangers of perilous journeys to Europe.
