HYDERABAD: In a daring operation on Thursday, 10
Telugu workers were rescued from a factory in
Malaysia and whisked away to the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. The mission also exposed a flourishing human trafficking racket run by a well-entrenched mafia. One of the rescued Indian workers, P Rakesh of
Nizamabad, will return to Hyderabad on Sunday. Arrangements are being made to rescue other nine workers and bring them back home in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Nangi Devender
Reddy, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee Gulf NRI convenor, who was involved in the operation, stumbled upon the racket that enslaved Indian workers lured to Malaysia on promise of good salaries.
After one of the trapped workers, Rakesh, contacted NRI convenor
Devender Reddy, he flew to Kuala Lumpur and with the help of a social worker,
Shanthi Priya, he drove down to the hellhole factory where Rakesh was interned.
Rakesh slipped out of the factory, got into the vehicle and was transported to the high commission. Taking cue, other workers stealthily came out and were taken to the high commission campus.
Agents mopped up Rs 1.25 lakh to send workers to Malaysia
There are at least 2,000 workers from Telugu states who are in a pitiable condition in Malaysia. They were promised good salaries, but are being treated as bonded labourers,” said Devender Reddy. Nizamabad man Rakesh said he was not paid for six months.
Devender Reddy found that workers were being taken on visit visas to Malaysia and not work permits. A big amount was being deducted from their salaries for visa processing. After deducting money for housing, travel and other amenities, workers were literally getting no pay. Airport officials in Kuala Lumpur also detained a group of people from Telugu states who arrived on a visit visa. “We realised that we were duped by our agents,” one of them told Devender Reddy, who met them at the airport. The agents allegedly collected up to Rs 1.25 lakh to send them to Malaysia. Devender Reddy said he would write to the Union ministry of external affairs on the human trafficking racket.
