Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh---Fringed with coconut trees and sandy beaches, Bangladesh's near-deserted island of Shah Porir Dwip feels more like a sleepy fishing port than a launchpad for a multi-million-dollar people smuggling industry.
But while the shores are still lined with wooden fishing boats, the crews are nowhere to be seen and the nets have seen little action of late.
"They all used to be boatmen or fishermen but gradually they realised how lucrative human trafficking is, so they became middlemen or traffickers themselves," said local police officer Kabir Hossain on a tour of the island, the rolling hills of neighbouring Myanmar visible on the horizon.
"More than 60 percent of the people living here are now either directly or indirectly involved with trafficking," Hossain added.
Activists estimate up to 8,000 migrants may presently be at sea in Southeast Asia. Most of them are ethnic Rohingya, heading south from Bangladesh or Myanmar to wealthier countries such as Malaysia.
But growing numbers of Bangladeshis are also trying to make the trip themselves, forking out up to $3,000 for a place on rickety and overcrowded trawlers that often fail to reach their destination.
In doing so, they are fuelling a trade that offers riches far outweighing the money that can be legally earned from fishing.
Shah Porir Dwip, which is accessible from the Bangladeshi mainland at low tide, carries tell-tale signs of new wealth.
Nearly all the houses are built out of brick and concrete rather than mud or straw as in towns further inland. Many appear to be freshly painted.
Hossain was one of the few men on the streets, locals having fled in droves to avoid raids by security forces sparked by the recent discovery in Thailand of mass graves containing the remains of migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
AFP
