Three youths rescued from being trafficked to Malaysia

Bengaluru: Three Punjabi youths in their twenties caught in human trafficking racket were saved by Immigration officials at Bengaluru Airport just before they were about to board an Indigo flight on Sunday.

According to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) police, the three youths caught the attention of the immigration officials at the international departure zone during the document check, TNIE reports.

The youths were being escorted by carrier 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. 

The Immigration officials stopped them for check 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 an officer-in-charge.

The officer added such actions are classified under human trafficking and refrained from revealing the youths identities. He also added such human trafficking cases are rampant in Punjab.