KOCHI: After police invoking relevant anti-human trafficking charges (IPC Section 370) in the case in which five Kerala women were rescued by Malayali organisations from the clutches of a human trafficking racket in Kuwait, one of the accused in the case identified as Ajumon A R, 35, of Pathanamthitta, surrendered before the court.
Police said they recorded the arrest of the accused and he was remanded in judicial custody. Police said they will move an application for his custody on Monday for detailed interrogation. Ajumon had gone into hiding after Kochi city police registered a case against him and the kingpin of the racket identified as M K Gassali alias Majeed of Kannur based on a complaint lodged by one of the victim women who was rescued from the captivity of the racket after a few Malayali organisations in Kuwait intervened.
Police are expecting to collect more details of the racket from Ajumon. The police said Ajumon and Shameer were the two agents who had conducted the recruitment drive as directed by Majeed, who operated from Dubai and Kuwait. The recruitment took place between December 2021 and February 2022 after the racket pasted posters in public places seeking applications for jobs of babysitters in Kuwait.
“We collected details from the persons in Kuwait who intervened and rescued the women from the custody of Majeed,” the officials said. Preliminary probe revealed that the accused had illegally recruited over 100 women from Kerala for the job of housemaids after pasting posters in public spaces seeking applications for jobs as babysitters and hospital staff promising Rs 60,000 as salary.
To bypass India’s strict regulations that prevent agents from recruiting women as housemaids without approval of the Protector of Emmigrants, the racket took the women on a visit visa to Dubai and Sharjah before taking them to Kuwait. The incident came to light when a few women protested against the brutal treatment they had to undergo at the hands of the racket. Police are expecting to collect details of the other women who are currently trapped at the houses of Kuwait families as bonded labourers.