17 Indian nationals held captive in Libya by mafia; Evacuated
Duped by travel agent and job in Italy, 17 Indians kept as bounded labour. Later, under Libyan custody for illegal immigration; Indian Ambassador intervened.
Offer of lucrative job opportunities in Italy, lured 17 Indian Nationals mainly from Panjab and Haryana to Libya where the local armed mafia kept them as bounded labour. Initially, at seeing their visas in Arabic, they were puzzled but paid 13 lakhs each to a travel agent for the commute regardless.
The missing report of these men in Zwara City was given to the Indian Embassy in Tunis on May 26th by the family members of the duped victims. CM Mann, of Punjab and CM Khattar, of Haryana took immediate action against the trave agents that defrauded the captives. The captives were kept under Libyan custody post-discovery for illegal immigration on June 13. At rescue, the captive were wounded and starving in Libya and were tended to by medicines, food and clothes by the Indian Embassy.
Later the Indian Embassy led an intervention by Ambassador NJ Gangte and paid for their tickets to return to New Delhi where the captives reunited with their parents. Due to the lack of their passports, Emergency Certificates were issued for their return as well. The Indian Embassy in Tunis took to the X platform stating, “The Indian Nationals arrived in Libya after being duped by travel agents under the pretext of lucrative jobs in Italy and were detained by the mafia in Libya.”
The Embassy was reported to be in close contact with the relatives of the hostages and the Libyan authorities Rahul Sharma, one of the victims hailing from Kurukshetra, Haryana, shared the nightmare they endured. “Four months ago I went to Libya but later we were sold to Libi as bound labourers. We used to work for hours without food and water or survive on a single piece of bread for two days. Toilet and drinking were in the same place”.through the months of May and June. They did so through ‘informal’ channels as well.
Sandeep, another victim from Deera Bassi, Punjab, echoed a similar harrowing narrative of being ensnared by false promises and then subjected to a life of misery. “I went to Dubai on a tourist visa. There I met an immigration agent who lured us to better working opportunities in Libya in the oil sector. In Libya we were sold for 5,000 Libiyan Dinnar. They took our phones and our passports. They used to beat us when we refused to work. Even jail in Libya was worse.”
The issue came to light initially to the National Minorities Commission in March when a few people were taken from India to Dubai and then to Libya through illegal means. They were prey to a scam that is non periodically reported on several occasions where Indian Nationals are held captive in Libya by fraudsters. Such issues of violence, false identities and coerced labour has increased since 2011 reportedly, after the fall of Libyan leader Gaddafi.
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