While witnessing teary-eyed reunions at the airport is not unusual, this one was unique. Seventeen Indian nationals, lured on the pretext of jobs and held captive by an armed group in Libya, returned to their homeland after six months on Sunday night.

PTI

Their rescue operation, led by an Indian MP, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the United Nations, had been ongoing since June.



Sold and badly beaten up

The Indian youths, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, who were released from Tripoli Jail in Libya last month, returned to Delhi on Sunday night.

As reported by Indian Express, many of the individuals left India between February and April this year.

They were reportedly given 'visas' and 'work permits' by travel agents and left India hoping to get a job in Italy. Many families even had to sell their land to fund their travel and stay.

The men were first taken to Dubai and then to Egypt. They were then sold to a local group by their agent in Libya's Zuwara.

One of the victims, Paramjeet Singh, said, as quoted by Indian Express, "I was sold to a person in Dubai." He told police that he was beaten up badly by the person to whom he was sold.

VIDEO | 17 Indian youths, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, who were released from Tripoli Jail in Libya last month, returned to Delhi on Sunday night. They were in Libya for the past six months because of unscrupulous travel agents who duped them on the pretext of sending them to… pic.twitter.com/BhoXOJibrQ — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 21, 2023

They were taken through the "donkey route" — a term used by traffickers to illegally push migrants to reach Western countries.



Indian Embassy in Tunisia tweeted on X (formerly known as Twitter), "The Embassy of India to Libya successfully repatriated 17 Indian nationals from Punjab and Haryana (on 19 August 2023), who were detained in Libya since February 2023. The Indians safely reached India on 20 August 2023 by Gulf Air flight at 2030 hours."

Emergency certificates issued for return

The case was first brought to the attention of Indian authorities in Tunisia on May 26 by family members of the stranded Indian nationals.

Throughout May and June, the embassy pursued the matter with Libyan authorities and through informal channels.

On June 13, the rescue operation began officially. However, Libyan authorities were not willing to let the Indians get out of their custody on the ground that they had illegally entered the country.

The authorities agreed to release them only after high-level interventions by the Indian ambassador in Tunis and senior MEA officials from New Delhi.

Twitter

The Indian Embassy issued emergency certificates as well as paid for their tickets for return to India.



Heinous crime

Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP's) Rajya Sabha member Vikramjit Singh Sahney reportedly played a crucial role in evacuating the Indians from Libya.

Singh posted on X, "With blessings of Akalpurakh Waheguru jee we spearheaded successful evacuation of 17 youth of Punjab & Haryana from gallows of death in Libya where unscrupulous agents duped them after taking 13 Lakh each."

Sordid tale of youth what ordeal they went through and how managed to return safely from gallows of torture & death #humantraffiking https://t.co/gj4PPXfxuk pic.twitter.com/pQUDY7AB6a — Vikramjit Singh MP (@vikramsahney) August 20, 2023

He called for immediate FIRs to be registered against those who committed this heinous crime.

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