Visakhapatnam police rescue 22 youth stranded in Gulf

Visakhapatnam: There are many who criticise social media. But it too has some positive sides as now Twitter has helped Vizag police rescue 22 persons who were cheated and faced a tough time in Gulf counties.

About 22 youngsters from Vizag region, who were cheated by a recruiting agent, were rescued from Abu Dhabi due to timely action and intervention by the Vizag city police, following a complaint received on the Twitter account of the city police.

City police chief T. Yoganand said that L.D. Prasad, an agent of Vesco Robotec Welding Institute in Autonagar, had lured 50 unemployed youths from Vizag, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam promising to secure jobs for them in the Korean company Hyundai at various locations in the Gulf. Prasad had collected between '65,000 and '80,000 from each candidate and gave fake appointment orders in the name of the company.

Believing the agent, the youngsters went to Abu Dhabi in April first week.

The candidates were received by the supply company Horizon International Recruitments at Abu Dhabi.

The youngsters came to know that they were cheated by the agent as they were recruited to work as helpers in a construction company.

Though the cheated youngsters called the agent, they were forced to work in the construction company for meagre salaries.  

Fed up with the series of events, they decided to return to India but their agency in Abu Dhabi told them that they had spent a huge amount to bring them from India and refused to send them back.

The victims lodged a complaint with the Vizag City Police through Twitter on May 11.

The City Police responded promptly and made efforts to bring them back to India by coordinating with the company officials there on behalf of the victims. So far, 22 victims returned to Vizag and the Gulf victims narrated their hard time there. Police have cautioned unemployed youths to make proper inquiry to avoid falling prey to unscrupulous agents.