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Local girl escapes traffickers in Malaysia, local recruiting agent arrested

Source : The Imphal Free PressIMPHAL, Sept 24: The escape of a teenage girl from Manipur from the custody of an organisation which poses itself as job recruiting agency based in Singapore has exposed what might be a organised human trafficking racket with international dimension spreading its tentacles in the state.It is also now evident, the recruiting agency Abel & Leo Private Ltd, has a strong presence in the Northeast, including in Manipur.The account of the escaped girl, revealed that in all four teenage girls including her (all names and particulars of the girls are now known), belonging to remote villages in the Tamenglong district, had been lured by a local recruiting agent, allegedly one Philip Gangmei, and taken abroad, first to Singapore, and then to Malaysia.Philip Gangmei, against whom a first information report, FIR, had been lodged on September 22 with the Tamenglong police by the districts child welfare committee, has since been arrested in Imphal, where he had come to appear for the current MPSC examination for MCS and MPS posts.According to the Nandini Thokchom, director, child and gender unit of the Forum for Indigenous Perspectives and Action (FIPA), efforts are now being made by NGOS working against trafficking for the safe repatriation of the girls.It may be recalled another five village girls who were taken by the same organisation were intercepted on the way to Singapore at Dimapur in August 2008.The public fear now is, these developments may only be the proverbial tip of the iceberg.In the current case, a group of four young girls were taken to Singapore by a group of employers promising them employment and a reasonable salary in January 2008. One girl who managed to escape, said she was kept as a domestic helper at an Oriya family’s (Indian) house in Singapore for some time.However, all four were taken to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia by Abel & Leo Private Ltd. According to the escaped girl, who is now taking refuge in the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lampur, the said agency came over and convinced the Oriya family that she needs to be taken elsewhere on medical grounds. However, the girl said she was given a different explanation. They told her that she would be given a more decent job and that such jobs are available only in Malaysia. She protested that she did not want to leave Singapore but they insisted and forcibly took her there along with her other three friends.At around 9.30 pm (Indian Standard Time) on 7 August, 2008 (Sunday) the girl called up Achungmei Kamei, a social worker in Manipur, from a public telephone boot and informed her how she has been taken to Kuala Lumpur. Achungmei was informed that she was severely tortured. She was beaten on her legs which were swollen badly. She also informed that she wants to come back home safely.She informed that on arrival in Kuala Lumpur they were kept in a shady hall and their passports were also taken away. She got suspicious of the whole affairs and protested. Later, because she was defiant, she was isolated from the rest of the group and kept in a separate room. She further narrated that a few men came to her room and misbehaved with her and tried to take advantage sexually. She fought back but she was over powered and beaten up brutally. They left her alone after sometime. It was the same day in the evening when no one was around that she managed to escape. She took a taxi and sought help at the Indian High Commission. The staff at the High Commission contacted Pastor Jeyabal David who is now providing her all the necessary support.She has contacted her other abducted friends over the phone and they informed that they were still being kept at the same place. The so-called agency has also contacted her over her mobile phone and is persuading her to come back on the ground that she would be given a good job.A late report by Pastor David said two more girls escaped. All their passports have been taken away by the human traffickers. These young girls are in danger and needs immediate physical and legal protection as they are in a foreign land without legal documents.According to a plea to the IG intelligence Manipur, by Kinderson Pamei, chairperson, child welfare committee, Tamenglong, at least 150 indigenous female children and young women, majority of them of the Zeliangrong Naga community were recruited with promises of jobs to Singapore by a Singapore based NGOs Abel and Leo Private Ltd. under the leadership of Ricky Ho.The letter said Ho’s men are spread over India, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines. In India, his men are scattered around penetrating to village level at Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam and West Bengal in particular, the letter said