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Indian rickshaw driver killed while crossing Israel border, family says he was promised a job
The agent, who sent him to Jordan, had promised Parera blue-collar jobs that would see them earning Rs. 350,000 rupees a month.
The family of 47-year-old Thomas Gabriel Perera, who was shot dead while illegally crossing into Israel, has said that the Kerala native was a victim of a job scam.
Perera, an autorickshaw driver in Kerala, was killed by Jordanian security forces at the border with Israel on February 10 when he tried to illegally cross the border. According to a report by BBC, he went to Jordan after an agent promised him a lucrative job.
When the job offer in Jordan did not materialise, he tried to enter Israel as he was told he could find work there, the report quoted his family as saying.
Parera also had his brother-in-law Edison Charlas with him, who was also injured in the shootout. Charlas received treatment for his wounds and spent two weeks in prison before coming back to India.
The agent, who sent them to Jordan, had promised the duo blue-collar jobs that would see them earning Rs. 350,000 rupees a month.
Also read: Sirsa man held in online part-time job scam in Delhi
Charlas told the BBC that he paid ₹210,000 rupees to an agent before they left India, and paid an additional $600 after reaching Jordan on a tourist visa.
But they got no job after reaching the Jordanian capital Amman, and were told to cross illegally into Israel for more lucrative opportunities.
That fateful day
Parera and Charlas started their journey to Israel on February 10 and drove for hours in a group toward the border.
"We were taken in a car. It was a long distance. We got into the car at 2 pm and reached the location only around midnight. Then we were made to walk several kilometres along a coastline. It was while walking in the dark that we were shot,'' Charlas was quoted by BBC as saying.
According to a letter sent to the family of the deceased by the Indian embassy in Jordan, "security forces tried to stop them but they did not listen to the warning, the guards opened fire on them". The letter further states that Parera was hit by a bullet in his head, killing him on the spot.
But according to the deceased’s brother-in-law, they got no such warning.
"I was walking slowly behind the others in the dark... That was when the bullet hit me and I lost consciousness. I had no clue what happened to Thomas,'' he said.
Charlas contacted his wife from prison and she got in touch with Indian embassy officials. He was deported to India on February 28, while Parera’s body is still in Jordan.
The ministry of external affairs has stated that they are working to get the body back to India. According to Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, the process of bringing the deceased's remains back to India has begun.
