17 Punjab and Haryana youths held captive in Libya for six months return home

Seventeen Punjab and Haryana youths, who had been held captive in Libya for six months after having their hopes for a better work and life dashed by dishonest travel agencies, returned to India on Sunday night."The Embassy of India to Libya has successfully repatriated 17 Indians from Punjab and Haryana on 19 August, who were detained in Libya since February this year," said the Embassy in a statement."They had arrived in Libya after being duped by travel agents under the pretext of lucrative jobs in Italy and were detained by the mafia in Libya," the statement added.According to The Tribune, the rescue operation was planned and funded by Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Vikramjit Singh Sahney, who followed up with the Indian and Libyan authorities to repatriate the youths.Sahney had learnt of the youths taking a donkey route to reach Italy in February and having landed in Libya instead.In Libya, the youths ended up in the illegal immigrant list and were put behind the bars after they escaped the mafia.“The journey was never completed and a nightmare of a detour took us to Libya where we were kept in Zuwara City in subhuman conditions, without food and water,” The Tribune quoted Anmol Singh, one of the 17 youths who reached New Delhi on Sunday, as saying.Another youth Dharambir told The Tribune that they were taken to Dubai from India with a promise to be sent to Italy but eventually were taken via sea route to Egypt and finally Libya.“In Libya, we were sold off to a local mafia that made us do unpaid work at construction sites,” he added.With inputs from agencies