Tortured youths return home safely from Saudi Arabia

ALAPPUZHA: Three youths, who were taken to Saudi Arabia by a Haripad-based travel agency with false promises and were tortured by their sponsor brutally, are finally back home safely. The trio arrived home on Saturday morning. The plight of Abhilash Gopi (21) Anju Bhavan, Malamelkode of Muttom, B Vimal Kumar (30) of Puthanveedu, Kanichanelloor, Muttom and Baiju Babu (28) of Karthikappally came to light when they forwarded a video of their torture to their kin in Haripad. The video showed an Arab beating the youths with a wood plank while the trio cried for mercy. However, the livid man continued to beat up the youths. Abhilash Gopi told TOI it was Shamsad Basheer (38), a native of Thrikkunnappuzha, who promised him the job of an automobile electrician in Saudi Arabia. Abhilash and Vimal took a flight to Abha, Saudi Arabia, located on the border of war-ravaged Yeman, on December 4 after being regularly persuaded by agents Shamsad, BK Shabumon and K N Vinod Kumar, a civil police officer in Arattupuzha police station. The cop was placed under suspension after the case got media attention.“We were told we would be deployed as automobile electricians in a company Shamsad called Silverdot. He told us there were many Malayalees working for the company. However, we were sent to a brick-manufacturing factory and asked to stay inside. We were asked to water the plants. We could see only Paksitanis there,’’ said Abhilash. Abhilash, an automobile engineering degree holder, is the only son of daily-wage workers Krishnakumari and Gopi.“Financial constraints and the dream of building a home and earning a decent living nurtured my gulf dreams. However, we landed in hell in the Gulf and I can’t believe we escaped from there. Now I have no way to settle the amount of Rs 1 lakh spent for our Middle East journey,’’ said Abhilash. It was Baiju who landed in the job fraud net first and he suffered the longest period of torture (almost one-and-a-half months) as he was taken by agents on November 6. He recounted his experience before journalists sitting in the balcony of his home. “Initially, I tried to suffer the torture somehow thinking of my family, but the torture increased day by day. So I urged Shamsad to send me back home because I could not continue anymore. But he brought Abhilash and Vimal to my working place. I told them the real situation. We started a protest jointly. Then Shamasad and my Arab employer began to torture us brutally. We were asked to leave the company. As we were leaving, the employer almost drove his Land Cruiser over us in an attempt to kill. Fortunately, we survived. Suddenly, he came out with a wood plank and began to beat us mercilessly. When we tried to run away, he spat on Abhilash’s face. The video Vimal captured in his cell phone was then sent to relatives,’’ said Baiju. When the media released the video of the attack, chief minister Oommen Chandy and external affairs minister Sushama Swaraj intervened and saved the youths. Kayamkulam and Haripad police have registered cases and have begun a probe into the incident.