Team Mangalorean - Suburban

Mangalore: It looks like yet another of umpteen number of cases wherein job aspirants looking for openings in the perceived lands of milk and money in the Middle East getting cheated by unscrupulous employment agents and middlemen.

Ashraf, a young man from Kotepura in Ullal on the outskirts of the city, had been assured of the job of an office boy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But now he has landed in a desert in harsh working conditions and is going through pitiable hardships.

His mother Asiamma has approached city police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh requesting him to intervene and rescue her son from the travails in the desert. She in her appeal has said that one Farooq from Manjeshwar in Kerala had assured  her that the job offered was of an office boy.

On that assurance, she agreed to send her son and spent Rs 60,000 on his travel and visa. He was received at the airport by one Abdulla, also from Manjeshwar, who handed over the charge of Asharf to a Saudi national. Within a few days, Ashraf phoned home saying that it was not an office boy's job he was put in but he had been forced to work in a desert day and night and not being provided proper food. Thereafter, he had not called for some time.

Since there was no contact with Ashraf, the worried mother visited Farooq in Manjeshwar. At his suggestion, she got some acquaintances living in Saudi Arabia to trace Abdulla. When asked about Ashraf, Abdulla is said to have refused to give any details.

Two months later, Abdulla gave a blank call to his mother. When that number was called back, they got Ashraf on the line. He poured out his woes saying that he was being beaten up and not being provided with regular food. He also said that he was being made to sleep on the open sand stretch in the desert, as a result of which his health had deteriorated. He desperately asked to be rescued from the horrible situation.

Asiamma got her brother to speak to Abdulla, who is said to have demanded Saudi Riyals 10,000, which equals about Rs 1.50 lakh, in compensation. Asiamma has pleaded to the police commissioner that she did not have the means to arrange for the amount and hence asked for his intervention in solving the issue.

She feels that Abdulla is the culprit in the whole matter and so she has sought an inquiry into the matter.