‘I was treated like a slave, bought freedom for Rs1 lakh’

DNA investigates how fraudulent job agencies lure city youth with plush jobs. Instead they are then forced to work as slaves in perilous places like iraq. While dozens of Amdavadis are still rotting in the badlands, we bring you the story of one of the victims who had to pay Rs 1 lakh to buy back his freedom. DNA delves into their dark world to re-build the sordid account. Incidentally, the job agencies are still operating in the city and duping more young men!

...Soon after my father passed away, the darkest days of my life began. But I never thought that they would become so appalling, for the entire episode began on a note of hope - and immense relief that I would at last get out of the clutches of poverty and be able to take good care of my huge family, who were entirely dependent on me.

A good job in the Gulf! With a pay packet of $500 per month! Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would get a monthly salary of Rs23,000 (approx) and that I would be able to start a new life full of promise and exciting things in an oil-rich country.

I did not realise that I was being taken for a cruel ride. That I would become like a slave in a restaurant in a strange land where I would have a nightmarish experience and would finally have to pay Rs1 lakh just to get back to my home country. I knew that fate has a habit of playing the most horrible tricks on us, but I never imagined that I would become one of its victims.

I used to work in a factory as an embroidery worker in Ahmedabad. However, I lost my job when the company introduced computers, in November 2009, and I used to roam the city for long hours, seeking any work I could lay my hands on. After all, the burden of 14 family members weighed upon my shoulders and I could not let them down. I could not afford to take a day ‘off’ and sometimes had to do manual labour just to feed them. Many friends and relatives had suggested other work options and I had also heard that I could go abroad and earn big money. Then I saw an advertisement in a newspaper promising jobs in Dubai and when I checked the number, I found out that it was my childhood friend Arshad Ansari, who stayed near our chawl in Gomtipur. Ansari is in the business of tours and travels and also runs a placement agency. He told me about a vacancy for a helper in Iteco Oilfield Supply Middle East FZE. Ansari offered me a placement where I would be getting $500 per month with accommodation expenses paid for.

The offer was too attractive to refuse. This would solve all my problems. However, I was asked to pay him Rs80,000 for the arrangements and his commission. The amount included fees for procuring the passport and visa.