A group of Bangladeshi workers allegedly assaulted a sub agent at the labour wing of Bangladesh High Commission in Brunei for cheating them there, said officials.

The assaulted man was identified as Kamrul Hasan, a sub-agent of Abdur Rahim who runs a racket of visa trading and human trafficking in Brunei, according to Bangladesh High Commission.

Bangladesh mission said that on August 19, 2019, expatriate workers Masuk, Md Mustak Kamal, Omar Faruk, Jaher Sheikh, Rafiqul Islam, Md Awal, Serajul Islam and Firoj Miah came to the labour wing of the mission to lodge complaint against Kamrul Hasan for their unemployment and non-payment of long pending wages.

Bangladesh High Commissioner in Brunei Air Vice Marshal (retd) Mahmud Hossain in a recent letter to the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry secretary said when Kamrul was contacted over phone from the labour wing for appearing in a hearing on the complaints of workers, he started playing around and buying time.

Later, the labour wing in a written notice asked Kamrul to appear in the hearing and asked him to explain why his passport would not be cancelled.

Kamrul along with few of his cronies then appeared in the hearing conducted by welfare assistant of the labour wing and locked in an altercation with eight aggrieved workers over their migration cost, promised jobs, and pending wages.

At one stage, the angry workers gave Kamrul a light beating and his friends secretly recorded video of the act on their phone and made it viral on social media.

A one-member inquiry committee has been formed to delve into the incident, letter said.

Referring to the issues of brokers who control the Bangladesh-Brunei recruitment, the Bangladesh mission called on the government to take coordinated efforts among concerned agencies, including the home ministry to address the existing labour problems,.

About 30,000 Bangladeshi workers were currently working in Brunei with most of them employed in the construction sector.