MUMBAI: Mumbai police have arrested 30 men trying to fly to Kuwait on fake tickets and visas and are looking for the unlicensed recruitment agents who charged them 100,000 rupees ($1,500) to arrange their travel to jobs in the Gulf state.
The men from Uttar Pradesh state in northern India were arrested on Tuesday when they tried checking in at the airport with fake tickets, police said. The men have been charged with cheating and forgery and are being held in custody.
Lata Sirsat, senior inspector with the Mumbai police, said a police team was going to Uttar Pradesh to find the unauthorized recruitment agents who duped these men with fake documents.
“All the men are in their 30s and poor,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Indian officials are trying to crack down on unauthorized agents who promise to organize well paid jobs as cleaners and laborers in the Gulf states but cheat people along the way with complaints ranging from non-payment of wages to physical abuse.
Adverts asking workers seeking jobs overseas to only go through licensed agents are played on the radio daily.
Vivek Sharma, the protector of emigrants in Uttar Pradesh, said this case of fraud was rare.
“This fake ticket fraud and on such a scale involving 30 people is the first such instance that I have come across,” Sharma told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Uttar Pradesh is among the poorest states in India and poverty and lack of jobs force many to migrate to major cities such as Mumbai but campaigners said seeking jobs in the Gulf states is a new development.
“This trend started about two to three years ago and now most people going to the Gulf are from Uttar Pradesh. They are very poor people and in many cases their villages don’t even have roads,” said migrant rights activist Bhim Reddy.
Government figures show there are some six million Indian migrants in the six Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman.
($1 = 64.5850 Indian rupees)
India workers promised jobs in Kuwait arrested at airport with fake tickets
India workers promised jobs in Kuwait arrested at airport with fake tickets
Cambodia says Thailand bombs casino hub on border
- The renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbors this month has killed at least 21 people in Thailand and 17 in Cambodia, while displacing around 800,000
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia said Thailand’s military on Thursday bombed the casino town of Poipet, a major crossing between the two nations, as foreign powers pressured them to halt reignited border clashes.
Thai forces “dropped two bombs in the area of Poipet Municipality, Banteay Meanchey Province” at around 11:00 am (0400 GMT) Thursday, the Cambodian defense ministry said in a statement.
Thailand has not yet confirmed any strike on Poipet — a bustling casino hub popular with Thai gamblers.
The renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbors this month has killed at least 21 people in Thailand and 17 in Cambodia, while displacing around 800,000, officials said.
The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometer (500-mile) border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.
Each side has blamed the other for instigating the fresh fighting and traded accusations of attacks on civilians.
Thailand said Tuesday that between 5,000 and 6,000 Thai nationals remained stranded in Poipet after Cambodia closed its land border crossings with its neighbor.
Cambodia’s interior ministry said the border closures were a “necessary measure” to reduce risks to civilians amid the ongoing combat, adding that air travel remained an option for those seeking to leave.
At least four casinos in Cambodia have been damaged by Thai strikes, the interior ministry said this week.
- ‘Shuttle-diplomacy’ -
Five days of fighting between Cambodia and Thailand in July killed dozens of people before a truce was brokered by the United States, China and Malaysia, and then broken within months.
US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly intervened in the long-standing conflict this year, claimed last week that the two countries had agreed to a new ceasefire.
But Bangkok denied any truce had been agreed, and fighting with artillery, tanks, drones and jets has continued daily since a border skirmish earlier this month sparked the latest round of conflict.
China said it was sending its special envoy for Asian affairs to Cambodia and Thailand on Thursday for a “shuttle-diplomacy trip” to help bridge the gaps and “rebuild peace.”
“Through its own way, China has been working actively for deescalation,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement late Wednesday.
Foreign ministers from ASEAN regional bloc nations are due to meet on Monday in Malaysia for emergency talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution.
“Our duty is to present the facts but more important is to press upon them that it is imperative for them to secure peace,” Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told journalists late Wednesday.
“We are appealing to them to immediately stop this frontline offensive and if possible, an immediate ceasefire,” Anwar said at his official residence in Putrajaya, adding that he was “cautiously optimistic” about the talks.
European Commission vice president Kaja Kallas said in a statement that she had spoken with the foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand on Wednesday, offering the European Union’s support for ceasefire monitoring with satellite imagery.
“The conflict between Thailand and Cambodia must not be allowed to spiral further. That’s why the ceasefire needs to be immediately restored,” Kallas said.
