Jungles, assault, jail: How a dream of Europe went sour

They survived nine days in a jungle, left two people for dead, were beaten by border security forces on two occasions and spent time in a Russian jail. The ordeal of six Indian youths finally ended on December 24 thanks to the intervention of a lawmaker after they failed to immigrate illegally to different European nations. Unlike the headline-grabbing story of 276 people who returned to India on December 26 after being grounded in France due to suspicions of human trafficking, the six youths’ return was just another instance of illegal immigration gone wrong. Five of the youths are from Punjab while one is a Haryana residentCaught and dumped in forests One of the youths, Lakhbir Singh is a Dalit Christian from the Mehmuwal Mahlan village in Jalandhar district. He said his family had paid an agent ₹13 lakh to immigrate into a European country. He said three of them flew into Oman on October 12 and nearly a fortnight later they were transported to Moscow. They stayed there for around six days and another youth was added to the group.“Through taxis, we were taken to Belarus, where a group of 22 men were kept in two rooms. This group included a few Pakistanis and Afghans, while those from India were from Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat,” he said.Watch: Alarming details exposed after plane detention medium nocaption106299725Lakhbir said they were initially told they would be taken to Latvia, which is part of the European Union (EU). “From Belarus, we were taken to a jungle and told that we would sneak into Latvia. Three local traffickers also accompanied us,” he said. However, the attempt failed and a subsequent attempt to enter Poland, also a member of the EU, also was unsuccessful. “Our attempt failed as the border force caught and thrashed us and dropped us back deep in the jungle. We were then taken towards Lithuania but that too failed, and then there was an attempt to enter Poland, but we were caught again,” Lakhbir said.Surviving on leaves, two left for deadLakhbir said after they were stopped from trying to enter Poland they ran out of food and were surviving on leaves. “Two from the group, an 18-year-old youth and a 35-year-old man, both from Punjab, were unable to walk and were left behind. After we returned to Belarus, we were informed by the local traffickers that the two had died in the jungle,” he said.Lakhbir said they were then taken from Belarus to Russia. The group was promised they would enter Finland and would then be taken to either France or Italy. Another member of the group, 21-year-old Balwinder Singh from Sona Sandhar village in Fazilka district said his aim was to get to Spain. “Both times, Russian forces stopped us and during the second time, they found that the visas of six of us had expired. We were arrested and put in jail,” Lakhbir said. medium106328783The families of the six then approached Rajya Sabha member Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal for help. “With the efforts of Indian officials in Moscow, we were released and flown back to Delhi in the early hours of December 24. We don’t know the fate of the others,” Lakhbir said.Both Lakhbir and Balwinder said they paid ₹13 lakh to their agents and had taken ₹2 lakh for the journey. They said their families had taken loans to send them abroad and now they were left in debt.Detained ‘dunki’ flight reaches MumbaiThere are no accurate estimates of the number of illegal migrants making such journeys into Europe. In a response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the government said there is no reliable data on the number of Indians staying or working illegally in foreign countries. There has been a rise in the number of Indian nationals who have had to return from EU nations over the past year. Data since 2022 shows India features in the top five nations to which people have had to return after being sent back by EU nations. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r Meanwhile, the charter flight detained by French authorities on December 21 for carrying Indian passengers, suspected to be victims of human trafficking, landed in Mumbai on December 26 with 276 out of the original 303 flyers on board.Two passengers who were detained last week by the French authorities for investigation were released by a French court on December 25, according to media reports.A number of passengers sought asylum and stayed back. Among those who remained in France were unaccompanied minors, including a 21-month-old child.The flight, which was repeatedly delayed, landed in Mumbai at 4.15am. “The passengers were interrogated by the immigration and law-enforcing agencies,” said a source. They were inside the airport terminal for 3-4 hours after arrival and were then allowed to go.Most of the passengers were young men from Punjab, carrying a single piece of luggage.When they stepped out of the terminal building, they avoided mediapersons, covered their faces and refused to speak.Lead image: Pexels