Eight Tamil techies arrested in Thailand

CHENNAI:  Thai authorities on Friday arrested eight techies from TN and one from Kerala, who had reached that country after having been rescued from Myanmarese IT firms that had forced them to carry out online scamming, purportedly for overstaying their visas.

Hungry and penniless, all they can do now is hope that the SOS they have sent to TN government and the Indian Embassy in Thailand would keep them from prison. “We won’t have access to our phone once we are jailed,” said Mahesh, a mechanical engineer from Kanniyakumari, who pleaded to pass the information to Indian authorities.

“We were nine and reached Thai border of Mae Sot, a city bordering Myanmar in western Thailand, on October 12 night. We had a flight to Bangkok today (Friday) but were detained by immigration as our visa expired. We are likely to be jailed and don’t know our fate. 

“The authorities have demanded 20,000 Thai Baht (Rs 43,359). We don’t have any money and our mobile phone is likely to be confiscated,” said Mahesh. The nine Indians detained in Thailand, include Vaisakhan Parasalai from Kerala; Dheepamany from Karaikal; Hariharan, Vignesh, Rahul and Mohammed Faijudeen from Kumbakonam; Muhisin from Marthandam; Balagopi from Villupuram and Mahesh from Kanniyakumari.

It is learnt from official sources that TN government is in touch with all the nine and, along with the Indian embassy, is trying to get them home. “The detention is part of a procedural lapse and this has to be streamlined before they can leave the country,” said official sources.

Mahesh said seven persons were freed by the company earlier. Of these, four reached Bangkok, but the fate of the remaining three, all from Kerala, remain unknown. They include Yatish Babu, Ijaz and Simozhi. “We don’t know where they are,” Mahesh said.