Trafficking Victims recount their ordeal
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 13 2008:
Recounting their ordeal, the five Zeliangrong girls who were taken to Singapore on promises of jobs but landed up in a night club at Malaysia have said that agent Rickey Ho who took them to Malaysia and sold them off in a night club is a 'dangerous man' and any girl or boy from Manipur who are planning to go to Singapore under his guidance or other agents who have connection with him should stop at once.
Talking to mediapersons at the office of Rongmei Naga Baptist Association located at Langol Tarung here today, the five girls said the agent Rickey Ho is a Chinese who runs an NGO from Singapore and always tries to lure Manipuri girls to come to Singapore and Malaysia where he exploits them.The five girls informed that Rickey even watches Manipuri films and keep the photographs of Manipuri actors and actresses stored in his computer.
They said that at present there may be more than 100 girls from Manipur in Singapore and Malaysia who have been recruited by Rickey Ho.
In Singapore, the girls were made to work as domestic helps but not in Malaysia, the five girls said, adding that only when they told the truth they are not prostitutes that they managed to escape from the last hotel in Malaysia where they were kept locked up.
Before the escape, one man had even come to solicit them inside the hotel room.But when they told the truth, he left quietly without saying any word, the five victims said.While staying at Malaysia, two agents working under Rickey Ho namely Mike and Sheela had tortured them so much so that they had even thought of committing suicide.
Expressing gratitude to SDPO Tamenglong and other NGOs who have helped them in coming back to Imphal safely, the five girls said that they would remain indebted and never be able to forget the help throughout their life.Meanwhile, it is said that the whereabouts of three more young girls, two from Thangal Village under Nungba Sub-division of Tamenglong District and the other from Nengsai village, have not been known after they have been taken to Singapore.
One Lungchui Golmei , a resident of Thangal village, who was present during the press conference identified the three missing girls as Shanti Maringmai (20) d/o Ading, Merry Maringmai (18) d/o Nungreiba and Tabitha d/o Kumar Meitei.Three of them have been reportedly gone together along with Ningtingliu (17), younger sister of Merry Maringmai sometime during the month of February-March this year.However, Ningtingliu has returned back.Golmei informed that for the first two-three months, the family members used to have contact with the three girls but not any more.It has been known that one person from Loktak Project area had taken the three girls.But the name of the person has not yet been able to identity, Golmei said, while informing he would convince the worried family members to take up the matter with Rongmei Women Union, Naga People Movement for Human Rights and Zeliangrong Students' Union and seek help in tracing the missing girls.
The president of Rongmei Naga Women's Organisation (Assam, Manipur and Nagaland) Panti Golmei has called upon all the social organisations for co-operation in rescuing the rest of the girls who are currently living in Malaysia as well as in stopping trafficking of young girls from Manipur in future

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Manipuri victims of human trafficking reach home finally

Source : The Imphal Free PressIMPHAL, Oct 11: All the five girl victims of human trafficking from Manipur and Assam to Malaysia arrived at Kolkata yesterday from Malaysia via Chennai. The girls from Manipur reached Imphal this afternoon.After lobbying with the officials of the Indian and Malaysian governments for a whole month they were brought back from Malaysia yesterday, said North East Helpline in a statement today.
The girls were, however, not accompanied by any women officials of the Manipur government as well as India government and this was strongly condemned by the NE Support Centre and Helpline which also expressed dissatisfaction over the neglect by the government.A spokesperson of the helpline, Madhu Chandra confirmed over phone the arrival of the girls and said that the five victims of human trafficking arrived at Chennai and Kolkata from Kuala Lumpur early yesterday without any lady officials accompanying them.
Four of them hailing from Manipur further arrived at Imphal airport this afternoon and were taken away by their respective families from the Imphal airport, reports said.Mention may be made the NE Support Centre and Helpline took a major role in facilitating the return of the girls to India from Malaysia after they escaped from a night club where they were allegedly sold by their traffickers.At their arrival, they were taken to Kolkata Manipur Bhavan under the care of the resident commissioner for a night’s stay without any women companion, it added.
Dr. Alana Golmei, a social worker from New Delhi along with two women from the same community and a brother of one of the girls went to receive them at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport yesterday but they were not allowed to meet the girls at the airport.Further they were refused entry into the Manipur Bhavan to meet them, the spokesperson said.NE Helpline also alleged that the residential commissioner of Manipur Bhavan, Kolkata, Dr. MK Singh intentionally refused to respond when they attempted to contact them.Madhu Chandra also blamed the Indian foreign ministry for not arranging women officials to accompany the victims from Chennai to Kolkata. “Arranging a male official to accompany the girls added more trauma and suffering,” Chandra said.Abel and Joe Networking Pvt. Ltd. (www.abelnjoe.com), a company based at Singapore through its newly opened branches in north east India have reportedly recruited nearly 150 girls from the region on the promise of jobs in Singapore.
Five of the victims who managed to escaped and arrived at Imphal today were also recruited by Abel and Joe Networking Pvt. Ltd. and kept for three months in Singapore without any work and later they were taken by the traffickers to Malaysia.The victims sought shelter at the Indian High Commission, Kuala Lumpur after they realized they were being trafficked. Later, they took shelter under the care of Pastor David and his wife in Kuala Lumpur.Earlier on September 29, a delegation led by public affairs national secretary of the All India Christian Council, Dr. Sam Paul along with Madhu Chandra, and Lansinglu Rongmei, president of North East Support Centre and Helpline met the National Commission for Women, High Commission of Malaysia and Union minister for tribal affairs PR Kyndia and appealed to the concerned Indian and Malaysian authorities for repatriation of the helpless girls.NE Support Centre and Helpline have also, in the meantime, asked the ministry of external affairs, north eastern state governments and South Asian countries to watch over the activities of Singapore based Abel and Joe Networking Pvt. Ltd. and ban their branches operating in the north eastern region.