Thiruvananthapuram: Several unregistered employment agencies in Kerala are recruiting workers for Iraq despite the ban imposed by the Indian Government in August 2004, according to police sources.

The ban was imposed in view of the security situation in Iraq. Motivated by security concerns, the Central Government had ordered that a temporary emigration seal stating "Not Valid For Travel in Iraq" be stamped on the passports of emigration clearance required category workers travelling to the Gulf.

However, "fly-by-night" recruitment agents acting in tandem with corrupt elements in Protector of Emigrants (POE) offices seem to have succeeded to an extend in circumventing the ban. The illegal agents use corrupt means to ensure that the emigration seal banning travel in Iraq is not affixed on the passports of workers recruited by them, according to police.

These agents, who are actually recruiting workers for Iraq, ask their clients to falsely declare their place of work as Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. The absence of the temporary seal makes it easier for the agents to move Indian workers into Iraq through bordering Gulf countries, an official said. The war has triggered a demand for drivers and menial workers in Iraq. The travel ban has prevented authorised agencies from recruiting such workers for Iraq and illegal agents are filling the void. Since December last, Emigration authorities in Thiruvananthapuram airport have prevented at least eight workers from travelling to the Gulf on the suspicion that they were bound for Iraq. The emigration seal banning travel in Iraq was not found on stamped on their passports. When questioned, the workers told the police that they had procured the visas from unregistered agents who promised them employment in Iraq. Officials said the illegal agents were luring workers to Iraq from Kerala by offering high salaries, longer tenures and even free return air-tickets.

The police were also investigating a Mumbai-based visa racket that uses fake visa stickers of the U.K. and Saudi Arabia to cheat job seekers of large sums of money. Last week, 11 persons were arrested here on the charge of using fake visas to travel to the U.K. and the Gulf.

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