SPECIAL REPORT | Exploited and trafficked by their employers, many Bangladeshi workers who enter the country legally end up fleeing and becoming undocumented, investigations by Kaler Kantho and Malaysiakini found.

This makes the workers prime targets for crime syndicates who make themselves out to be 'legalisation agents'.

Having taken up debts of at least RM17,000 to pay for their passage to Malaysia, desperate workers pay these agents a minimum of RM4,000 to obtain legal status through the exploitation of the Malaysian government’s 'rehiring' scheme...