Chennai: In yet another crackdown on human trafficking rackets rooted in Gulf countries, nine construction workers from Tamil Nadu, who were trafficked to Sharjah, Dubai, lured by promise of a good job five months ago, were rescued and brought back to Chennai, on Tuesday. The nine arrived at the Chennai International Airport from Dubai via Air India flight, on Tuesday morning.
According to reports, the victims were Identified as Murugesan (32), Thirun-avukarasu (38), Sathish (27) of Thanjavur, Saravanan (42), Mohammed Hamid Ali (39), Suresh (32), Veera Mani (29) of Nagapattinam, Ram Kumar (37) and Ganeshan (35) of Ramanathapuram.
All of them were approached by agents who lured them under the promise of decent jobs in different Gulf countries, five months ago. The agents received money ranging from `60,000 to `1 lakh from the victims.
In February, the nine men reached Sharjah, Dubai, and they were separated and sent to various industries in the city. Initially, they were made to work eight hours a day, but as days passed, they were forced to work for more than 18 hours a day. For four months, they were made to work night and day and not paid a penny, deprived of food and physically abused. They said, the agent promised Rs. 20,000 a month as pay, but they survived there without any salary or proper food.
The agent also refused to return their passports. They were asked to pay Rs. 1 lakh to return to India. However, after a long way, the victim's family in Tamil Nadu sought the help of the State and Central governments to rescue their men in bondage. The Indian Embassy in Dubai was contacted, and the nine men were rescued from their respective work place last week. On Tuesday morning, the victims were brought to Chennai and sent home down south.
Speaking to the media, one of the victims said the agents promised hefty salaries, free shelter and food and received around Rs. 1 lakh from me.
“But there, we were exploited and abused. He said, we nine people were rescued with the help of the State and Central governments, but still there are around 300 Tamil
Nadu workers who are suffering in Dubai industries as bonded labourers. We request the government to rescue them also,” he said.
