'I had one or two kuboos to eat after working till midnight': Kochi woman on her Kuwait ordeal

Kochi: The operations of a major human trafficking mafia with terror links have come to light with the escape of a Fort Kochi native from its hold.

The woman who was duped on the pretext of a job in the Middle East managed to return to Kerala from Kuwait and filed a complaint with the Ernakulam South Police station and now the National Investigation Agency (NIA) too have stepped in.

Meanwhile, two other Keralite woman too who managed to escape are yet to appproach the police. She opens up to Manorama about her struggles and miseries even as she is still reeling under the trauma of her days in Kuwait. A day earlier reported earlier thas recorded the detailed statement

"No one else should experience what I went through for a few weeks. Many women have been suffering for months together. It is sheer luck that I could escape and reach back home,” the lucky escapee said.

It all started when she saw a roadside advertisement board on the recruitment agency and reached their office at Chalikkavattom at Vennala in Ernakulam.

Her plight in her own words:

"The lady staff at this office elaborated on the work. I was promised the work of a babysitter in Kuwait. I was told to reach their office at Ravipuram (in another part of Ernakulam) after a week.

The staff there showed me the photos of many women on WhatsApp and said these women recruited by the same agency are doing well after being placed. They said I only need to pay for the RT-PCR test and the medical checkup, and that the visa expenses and flight ticket fare will be borne by them.

Two weeks thereafter, I got a call saying my visa is ready. I collected the ticket and other travel documents from a man at Nedumbassery. I left Kerala and reached Dubai first. On the very next day, I flew to Kuwait. On reaching Kuwait, Majeed, a native of Kannur, took me to his office and later to another room. A few Malayali women were there in the room. They did not talk about anything but looked at me sympathetically when they saw me. Sometime later, a Kuwait-native lady came and took me to her house after they paid Majeed an amount equivalent to Rs 3.5 lakh.

Work started the same day. There were two children, an 8-month-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old, in that house. I was to take care of them. The language was a problem for me. There were eight members in that house and a woman from the Philippines was their cook.

Besides taking care of the children, I was to do the laundry, dishwashing and housekeeping work, from 7 in the morning through midnight. I was only given one or two kuboos to eat. On realising that I was not brought to do just babysitting, I called and informed my husband back home. I had also talked to Majeed, the agent, then. Majeed called the people in that house and talked. Nevertheless, things remained the same.

When I called up Majeed again, he got angry. He called up and told the people in that house to take my phone away and not to let me use it. They slapped me with chappal for having told Majeed to change my place of work.

Knowing about all these, my husband went and met Ajumon, their agent in Kerala. He was told that he should pay Rs 3.5 lakh to bring me back home or I would be taken to wherever Majeed said and was shown the door.

When my husband talked to Majeed, he demanded to pay Rs 3.5 lakh and told my husband that I would be taken to Syria if he didn’t pay the sum. Seeking help, my husband then contacted an organization in Kuwait and they asked to send the location. Soon, I was taken from the house where I worked to Majeed’s place and locked up in a room.

The women I had met on reaching Kuwait were there. When I told them about my miseries and cried, they said, they didn’t say anything at first thinking that I might get a good place to work and be fine.

In between, the organisation members came and created trouble. Majeed physically assaulted me saying I conveyed to them the location. The women, who came forward and tried to prevent him from assaulting me, were also stomped and assaulted by Majeed.

“Have you heard of IS? That is where you all are going to go,” he shouted and walked out from there.

I had a faint hope that I may manage to escape after my husband called up Majeed again, raised the issue and the Kuwait organization intervened. That is how three of us could escape and be back home. All three of us were sent to three different places and none of us was paid at all. We did not even have money to buy a bottle of drinking water. I heaved a sigh of relief only after landing here and seeing my family."