The Hindu : Kerala News : Job racketeers on the prowl Law & order

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Saturday, Oct 20, 2007
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Kerala

Job racketeers on the prowl Law & order

Unregistered recruitment companies still continue to deceive job seekers by engaging Arab nationals to conduct interviews at hotels in the city, writes Biju Govind

The arrest of a couple on the charges of duping 12 persons by issuing fake visas has once again brought to focus the thriving bogus manpower recruitment agencies in north Kerala. The Kodencherry police attached to the Kozhikode rural police arrested Ibrahim Kutty and his wife Sajina, who were operating the agency from a rented house Perinthalmanna in Malappuram district on Thursday. Ibrahim Kutty, who hails from Kollam district and his wife from Pathanamthitta district, we re charged under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. They were produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate’s Court at Thamarassery on Friday, the police said.

Investigating officers said the couple had collected over Rs.3.5 lakh from 12 persons after promising them jobs in a packing unit of a mineral water company in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. All the victims hail from Kodencherry. They were asked to remit Rs.62,000 each for the visa. Many of them had deposited half of the amount as first instalment on October 12, the police said.

Later, copies of the visa were issued to the job aspirants. But when they cross checked with the Dubai-based company they discovered that it was a fake address.

The couple was arrested after they were summoned to a house at Kunnamangalam in the district on the pretext that the balance amount would be paid to them, officials said.

A month ago the Kasaba police had arrested two persons for collecting Rs.40,000 from C.K. Sathyan by promising him a visa. The duo, Ramaswamy and Moideen Haji, were arrested after the victim lodged a complaint that he had been duped, the police said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (North) C.M. Pradeep Kumar said that unregistered travel agencies indulged in cheating unemployed youths offering them well-paid jobs mostly in Gulf nations. Earlier, visa racket cases were rampant in north Kerala.

Today the number of visa racket cases has come down substantially. But police stations receive complaints from individuals accusing travel agencies of foul play, he said.

People still fall prey to visa racketeers despite the government taking efforts to make the people aware of the dubious manpower recruitment firms. Most of the victims belonged to lower middle class families and they pledged their property and ornaments to get visas, Mr. Pradeep Kumar said.

Earlier, franchises and sub-agents of Mumbai-based travel agencies functioned in the city. With the police and the public jointly acting against fly-by-night operators, most of them have shut shop. However, unregistered recruitment companies still continue to deceive job seekers by engaging Arab nationals to conduct interviews at hotels in the city and collect huge amounts as advance from applicants, he said.

Even professionals get duped by the machinations of travel agencies.

A Kozhikode-based travel agency recruited qualified engineers by offering them plum postings and metro facilities two years ago. They were forced to travel with invalid documents to West Asia and they ended up doing fencing work along the Kuwait-Iraq border.

Later, it was found that the signature and seal of the Protector of Emigrants had been forged.

The police officials feel that emigration officials need to sternly deal with bogus recruitment agencies. Several nations have their own investigative agencies to deal with such racketeers.

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