Chandigarh: Fired by the prospect of changing his fortunes in Germany, Tarsem Singh, 24, a native of Banga village in Nawanshahr district of Punjab, embarked on a life-changing voyage, only to land in a quagmire-like situation.

All set for a new life in Germany, he was taken to Libya by travel agents and then dumped in Malta.

After spending nearly a month on the streets of Valletta, he is now sharing bed space with six other Punjabi youths in an illegally constructed room at a construction site in Gozo Island, Malta. He has no permanent job and is forced to undertake menial jobs to survive. He wonders now why did he ever leave home.

“I want to return to my village in Punjab but I have no money. My tourist visa has expired and I am afraid to go to the airport as I can be arrested anytime. I had boarded a flight to Frankfurt (Germany) but I don’t know how I landed in Tripoli (Libya). Then I reached Malta after crossing jungles and THE Mediterranean Sea with a Libyan agent,” said Singh.

“The Libyan agent is also here in Malta. He wants Rs 2 lakh more to send me to Italy, but my father has already sold his one-acre land to pay Rs 6 lakh to send me abroad. The agent is forcing me to go to Syria to work in an arms factory but I do not want that. I plan to cross the sea to reach Italy soon.”

Singh is one among dozens of Punjabi youths trapped in Malta, who have paid Punjab-based travel agents anything between Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, for reaching a European country .

Multi-million industry

“It is a huge industry. They are paying human traffickers thousands of Euros to smuggle them to Europe. They are promised lucrative jobs, but on reaching Malta they literally get nothing as no one can work here on tourist visa. They have to sleep on roads and many get arrested. They are desperate to go home but are stuck in detention centres because of long bureaucratic set-up here,” said Jose Michel Soler, Malta police inspector, stationed at Julien Street, where most of the illegal immigrants work on daily wages.

Vince Debono, a Maltese government-registered tourist guide for over 25 years and has come across many such illegal Punjabi immigrants.”Malta is a small country with limited numbers of jobs, but in most cases it is never their (Punjabi illegal immigrants) final destination. It is only the gateway to mainland Europe. They end up here because of ship breakdown or are forcibly left here by crooked travel agents tipped off about cops following them.”

“But we have seen a dip in illegal youths coming to Malta because of change of rules. Once they are caught in Malta, they aren’t allowed to move further into Europe. They will be lodged in detention centres for months and deported to their countries after proper verification. So it is waste of their time, money and efforts,” points out Debono.

Treacherous route through jungles & sea

According to the Malta police, most of the illegal Punjabi youths come from the Mediterranean Sea.

“From Delhi, they reach Tripoli, then cross the borders through treacherous jungles and reach Tunis. From there they board ships or boats to reach Sicily (Italy) and in some cases Malta. This journey takes around two to three months. Many lives are lost during this; such cases go unreported,” says Soler.

Meanwhile a Punjab-based NGO HelpingHapless, which is working for Punjabi youths stuck abroad and has so far brought over 100 youths back to Punjab, is trying to contact youths languishing in Malta.

“Owing to its easy connectivity with big European countries, many unscrupulous agents are using this route for human trafficking. I currently know cases of two Punjabi youths stuck in Malta. They are in a pitiable condition and want to come back. Many Punjabi youths are stuck there, but we do not have any way to contact them,” said Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia, co-founder of an NGO, HelpingHapless.

(The Times of India)