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 MalaysiaThere 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.
Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyde...
Read MoreSushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.
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