Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni has said the government will investigate the allegations that notorious criminals living as workers were staying in Saudi Arabia and other countries having large Bangladeshi community, reports bdnews24.com.

The Foreign Minister made the comment while speaking at the first session of the second day of the "First NRB Development and Opportunities Conference-2009" jointly organised by Scholars Bangladesh and the Human Capital Development Limited at a city hotel Friday.

Former Foreign Secretary Mohammed Jamir chaired the session while coordinator of Refuge and Migratory Movements Research Unit Dr CR Abrar presented the keynote paper.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs AH Mahmud Ali was the special guest at the function, joined, among others, by former ambassadors, non-resident Bangladeshis, representatives from recruiting agencies and NGOs dealing with migrant workers' rights.

Dr Dipu Moni also said the recruiting agents charge amounts equalling to 'exploitation' of workers.

"I will ask ambassadors and high commissioners of the countries, where Bangladeshis work in large numbers, to submit reports on the numbers of the alleged criminals living there," Dr Dipu Moni said.

Expatriate Fakhrul Bashar Masum alleged that terrorists were sent to Saudi Arabia under political patronage and they were committing crimes that were earning bad names for Bangladeshis.

Another Bangladeshi, Dr Arifur Rahman, said in some cases the activists of the banned Islamist outfit JMB went to Saudi Arabia under cover of migrant workers.

The Foreign Minister said the middlemen in Bangladesh and the countries where the workers head to were increasing the costs of migration.

"The migration cost in our country is much higher than in other countries. This is similar to the exploitation of the workers," said Dipu Moni.

"We will consider taking possible measures to free the migrant workers from the clutches of the middlemen-both in Bangladesh and the countries where they go," she said.

Masud Aziz, a former ambassador, told the seminar that the recruiting agents could get Tk 10,000 per workers as profits if they charged Tk 80,000 for sending workers to Malaysia.

"But there are instances where the recruiting agents collected up to Tk 0.3 million, starting from Tk 0.14 million.

"Can you imagine how much money is that in terms of dollars?"

Dr Arifur Rahman said a website prepared and maintained by people from the Indian state of Kerala launched a massive propaganda against Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia.

He said the Bangladesh mission in Saudi Arabia should have a press officer to counter such anti-Bangladesh campaign.

Mr Rahman said the Saudi authorities already detected the people and shut the site down.