Kuwait human trafficking: Four women escaped so far, mastermind elusive

Kochi: The ongoing probe into the human trafficking racket has unravelled the extent of its operations and the misery of Keralite women duped after being offered overseas jobs.

The police have not been able to nab Majeed (M K Gassali), the kingpin of the trafficking gang, yet though four women survivors who escaped from its clutches and reached back home from Kuwait have filed complaints with the Kerala Police.

Majeed had demanded Rs 3.5 lakh from a man who requested to send his wife back home. He also threatened him saying if he failed to send the money, his wife would be taken to Syria and sold to the terror group IS. 

“Do whatever work you are told to do and stay put there. You have a husband, don't you?  He is not worth the sandals on my feet. You go and complain anywhere, to the police or the army. I know what should be done with you,” Majeed had said reacting to the survivor’s request to send her back home as she was not able to work as a slave.

Majeed was in Kozhikode when the Kochi City Police received a complaint from a survivor hailing from West Kochi. As the complaint came to public light he left India and continues his human trafficking activities as per available information.

The police’s move to declare Majeed a fugitive and to issue lookout notices had failed. The statements of Ajumon from Pathanamthitta, another accused who was arrested by the police, are also against Majeed. Ajumon was working as Majeed’s agent in Kerala recruiting women and handing them over to Majeed.

 

Cherayi native reveals horror abroad

 

A survivor from the racket, a native of Cherayi who reached Nedumbassery airport on Saturday said, she was forcefully given a lot of chocolates and dresses while leaving Kuwait and was told not to reveal about the assaults and abuses she had faced in Kuwait.

The woman had left home for Kuwait on April 14. Even after working for almost three months, she was not given any salary. When questioned about not receiving her pay, she was told that her pay has gone into the ticket and other expenses. She was promised a salary of Rs 30,000. Her phone was taken away and the phone memory was cleared.

“I was to lift sacks weighing 50 kg each. If I refused I faced assault and they sweared at me. I could not even eat food hearing such insults and scolding. In the same house, there was another Keralite woman. But the house owner would not let us communicate at all. When I got out of the house in an attempt to escape, a few foreigners ganged up and physically assaulted me. We don’t have a house and have many debts to be cleared. That is why I fell for it when I was told I could get a job in Kuwait and earn well,”  the survivor-woman said.