BENGALURU: Immigration officials at Bengaluru airport busted a case of human trafficking of three Punjabi youths to Malaysia in the wee hours of Sunday, just before they were to get onboard an IndiGo flight.
According to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) police, when document checks were being carried out in the international departure zone, immigration officials stopped the youths, in their early twenties, based on suspicion. They were being escorted by an individual Raj Kumar, a native of Amritsar.
A cop said, “Kumar himself is a ‘carrier’. The three Punjabi youths were to board flight No. 6E 2135 to Kuala Lumpur at 1.25 am. They were promised jobs there. However, their passports only had temporary tourist visas stamped on them. Interrogation revealed that each of the youngsters had paid nearly Rs one lakh to an agent on the assurance that they would be given jobs.”
“They appeared to be clueless that they would not be able to get jobs based on the kind of visas stamped on their passports,” another cop added.
Immigration officials stopped them after midnight and later handed them over to the Airport police station around 1 am.
“An FIR has been registered against Raj Kumar under Section 370 (Illegal Human Trafficking) and Section 420 of the IPC,” said a cop. Such actions are classified under human trafficking only, he added. Cops refused to divulge the name of the youths.
Such cases of trafficking of humans under the promise of a lucrative career abroad are rampant in Punjab.