AMBALA: Some videos of Indians have come to light in which three youths are seen taken on gunpoint to extort money from their parents in India, by the illegal immigration agents abroad.

These Indians are suspected to be those residents, who adopted illegal routes to enter the United States (US) via Mexico and in some cases, these youths are kept in dark by the immigration agents in India with the false promises of settling them in the US on a work permit.

The identities of these Indians could not be established and any information about their whereabouts is not known yet. In the videos, they are heard speaking in the Hindi language in the Haryanvi accent.

As seen in the videos, three Indians are locked in a room and they are being tortured mentally and physically and their videos are being recorded which are then forwarded to their parents, in order to extort money.

In the videos, two foreign nationals speaking in Spanish language having their faces covered are also seen torturing the Indians on gunpoint and a sword-like sharp-weapon is kept on their neck and the agents are asking the youths to ask their parents to send. The agents can be heard speaking in Spanish, “Money money, last warning.”

In a video, an Indian youth stuck in the hands of immigration agents abroad is heard saying, “Mom and Dad, give them the money or they will kill us here. I beg in front of you, please give them the amount of money they are demanding. Please do something and give them the money. They are demanding 10,000 USD and give them the same.”

It is notable that, after the US government tightened the rules and asked the Mexican authorities to check illegal immigrants entering the US border through Mexico, the Mexico Government deported 311 Indians on October 18.

In another mass deportation by the US authorities, 150 Indians were again deported on November 20, for either violating their visa norms or illegally entering America. These 150 landed in the morning at Delhi airport on November 20.

In both the cases of deportation of 311 and 150 Indians, special aircraft carriers were used to deport and transport them to India from the foreign lands and their dreams of settling abroad were shattered and huge savings wasted.

The videos which are with TOI have been obtained from different deportees who were among 311 Indians and they told, “The donkers (agents) abroad had tortured them mentally and physically. They did not give us enough food and medicines as we suffered skin allergies during our forceful journey through jungles.”

A deportee requesting anonymity told, “The agents in India promised to settle me and my brother in the US for Rs 30 lakh. We paid Rs 25.50 lakh in advance and they took us to the journey towards the US. They took us through aerial route from New Delhi to Quito in Ecuador and then we were made to travel through illegal passage via Tulcan, Turbo, Panama , Costa Rica, Nicaragua , Honduras , Guatemala, and Mexico. In Turbo, Columbia, we were locked in a room and taken on gunpoint and forced to ask our parents to pay the remaining amount of Rs 4.5 lakh to their associated agents in India. My parents went to the house of that agent and paid the remaining amount.”

Only a few cases have been reported to the police and in large numbers of cases, the deportees are still feared and they are not ready to speak about their experience openly and without fear.

