‘Libyan army took our cash’
The Indians, who were evacuated from Libya and brought to Mumbai on Friday by special flights chartered by the Indian government, alleged that the Libyan army had taken away their luggage and money.
The Indians, who were evacuated from Libya and brought to Mumbai on Friday by special flights chartered by the Indian government, alleged that the Libyan army had taken away their luggage and money.
“The Libyan army was not violent with the Indians, but they took away all our money and possessions before we could return to India,” claimed Sashi Kapoor, 23, who is from Jalandar.
Kapoor landed in Mumbai on one of the four flights chartered by the Indian government to ferry Indian evacuees to Mumbai on Friday.
This was the first time that the evacuees landed in Mumbai since the Indian government began evacuating citizens after violence protestors opposing the rule of Muammar Gaddafi rocked Libya.
Kapoor was part of 193 Indians who were taken to Jintan in December by a Delhi-based firm on the pretext of a job at a car manufacturer.
“We were promised a job in a car manufacturing unit but ended up working in a Korean construction company,” alleged Narendra Kumar, who was also brought to Mumbai by the special chartered flight on Friday.
“The fact remains that we were cheated and not paid anything,” he added.
The men claimed that at Jintan they were made to stay in camps and weren’t even allowed to speak to their family members in India.
Another evacuee, Sushant Mandal, who is from West Bengal, said he had not spoken to his family for more than a month as the phone lines at the camp were cut off.
He added that they were stuck in the Jintan camp where the only food served to them was plain rice.
“We were stuck up there. The Indian embassy orgainsed trucks to ferry us from Jintan to Tripoli, from where we took a flight to Mumbai via Dubai,” said Mandal.