11 travel agents land behind bars for cheating

Innocent women sent to Gulf countries in the guise of working as beauticians and day care centre caretakers

Hyderabad: The South Zone police arrested 11 travel agents who have been trafficking innocent persons on pretext of providing high-paid jobs and also as Haj pilgrims. The police received complaints from some women who returned from Arab countries.

They alleged that they were sent in guise of working as beauticians and to work in baby care centres, but were forced into prostitution and slavery. Following this, the police raided several travel agencies in Santosh Nagar, Madannapet, Barkas and Chandrayangutta and arrested Jagannath Sadashiva Shewale, Mallikarjun, Abdul Ayub, Syed Wajid, Goutam Donga, Naga Mallesh, Pandu, Venkat Ratnam, Pulla Rao, Krishna Reddy and Sai Baba Reddy.

During interrogation, the police found that the travel agents managed to get visas to their clients to work as maids and valets, the jobs that do not need any agreement from the employer about payment and other facilities provided to the employees.

“The gullible persons were lured with high-paid jobs.But after reaching their destination, they were held hostage and forced to work as slaves. The agents have sent about 40 women and received Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh for each person,” said South Zone DCP V Satyanarayana.

In another instance, the agents collected money from the persons willing to undertake Haj pilgrimage. However, the agents did not make travel arrangements and seized their passports. The police have recovered 128 passports from illegal possession of travel agents at Santosh Nagar and Madannapet.

“For some who were willing to go for Haj pilgrimage, the agents applied for work visas and then forged them as visit visas. They booked air tickets using visit visas and later cancelled the return tickets and reimbursed the money. The innocent pilgrims, unaware of this have been suffering there, as the employers have seized their passports,” the DCP said explaining modus operandi followed by another gang.

He said that Jagannath and his son Mallikarjun have sent about 250 persons including women as bonded labourers to Arab countries. Teams have been formed to nab the five absconding accused. Shabana, a victim, who had returned to Hyderabad, shared her miserable experience with the police and said she was forced to work for 18 hours in a day by cooking food for about 40 persons of a family, washing their clothes, cleaning toilets and working as masseur.

Another woman from Falaknuma was forced to marry a person, who claimed to be an Arab Sheikh and left for Arab country.
Later, she found that her husband is a beggar near a mosque and she was also forced to beg. DCP Satyanarayana said cases have been booked against the accused travel agents and further probe is on to identify the victims.