A Bangladesh origin couple, who ran a sweets making business in Auckland of New Zealand and paid their employees just $6 an hour, have been jailed for their two-year exploitation of migrant workers.
Mohammed Atiqul Islam and Nafisa Ahmed were jointly charged by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) with several offences, including deceptively arranging the entry of two Bangladesh nationals into the country.
The pair, both New Zealand citizens, were also charged but found not guilty at a lengthy Auckland District Court trial of human trafficking.
It was one of only a handful human trafficking prosecutions in New Zealand’s legal history.
Mohammed Atiqul Islam, a company director in his late 30s, was found guilty on 10 charges of exploitation and seven other immigration related offences.
Also known as Kafi Islam, he was found guilty of a further three charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Nafisa Ahmed, an accountant in her mid 30s, was jointly found guilty of seven exploitation charges relating to the five victims.
The pair’s offending was uncovered after two of the chefs at the Royal Sweets Cafe, also known as the Royal Bengal Cafe, made complaints to New Zealand authorities about the conditions imposed on them.
The chefs’ passports were also confiscated immediately after they arrived in New Zealand from Bangladesh after responding to advertisements for work in Bengali newspapers.
Judge Brooke Gibson said the chefs had “suffered grievously”.
Working long hours, Islam and Ahmed’s employees were paid just $6 an hour, were not paid for all of the hours they worked or any holiday pay, the court heard.
Those employees on temporary visas were also encouraged by Islam and Ahmed to breach their visa conditions by working more hours.
Crown prosecutor Jacob Parry said some of the victims suffered swollen legs and hands and one thought “we might die from overwork”.
“There is an attitude for the health of the business over the health of the workers,” Parry said.
One worker had also said they wouldn’t have suffered such long working hours in Bangladesh.
After the verdicts, INZ acting general manager Jock Gilray had also said: “Exploiting migrants is an abhorrent practice that undermines human rights and creates an uneven playing field for the vast majority of New Zealand business that seek to comply with New Zealand law.”
