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41 Kuwait-bound women arrested by Hyderabad police

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

As many as 41 women passengers bound for Kuwait were arrested by the Hyderabad city police on the charge of possessing fake emigration documents minutes before they were to board a special flight. It turned out that they were part of a racket involving the 'export' of maid-servants to the Gulf. The police also nabbed three agents involved in this job racket.

In a statement, police said that the racket was busted after the special branch was tipped off about some persons travelling to Kuwait with the help of fake documents. Immediately, teams were sent to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and an intensive checking was taken up with the help of the immigration staff.

All the 41 women had been issued boarding passes, had undergone the customs check and had boarded IC-981, a special flight bound for Kuwait. It was to take off at 2300 hours (IST) on Tuesday night.

The police intervened and stopped the flight. They checked the travel documents of the women. While the visas were found to be valid, the Emigration Check Not Required clearance from the Protector of Emigrants, Madras, was found to be forged. Some agents, including those from Hyderabad, had forged the stamps, seals and signatures of the Protector of Emigrants, Ministry of Labour.

The police remanded the women and agents to judicial custody on Wednesday. The travel agents - M Madhusudhan (30), P Jayachandra (27) and Lingam Ravi - were from Cuddappah district. They had collected between Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 from each job-seeker. A special team has been formed to track down the kingpins of the racket.

This is the first instance in recent years that such a large number of passengers going abroad on fake documents were arrested at the airport in Hyderabad.

The hapless women hail from Cuddappah, Chittoor, Nellore and West Godavari districts, besides Hyderabad. The are from very poor families. They had borrowed money at exorbitant rates of interest to pay the travel agents for jobs in the Gulf.

They planned to work as maid-servants for three to four years, save money and then return to India. They were promised jobs with salaries of Rs 4,000 per month.

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