‘We were promised Rs 3.5 lakh salary in Israel’: Kerala man recalls bid to cross border from Jordan that left his relative dead

Edison (43) was injured in the incident that took place on February 10, five days after they went to Jordan. He got back to Kerala on February 28. Both Edison and Thomas were from Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram.

The Embassy has learnt of the sad demise of an Indian national in unfortunate circumstances. The Embassy is in touch with the family of the deceased and is working closely with Jordanian authorities for transportation of mortal remains of the deceased. @MEAIndia

— India in Jordan (@IndiainJordan) March 2, 2025

Edison said he and Thomas were part of a group of four people who had gone to Jordan on tourist visas valid up to early April. He identified the other two as Biju Baby and Joshi, who were also from Thumba. Joshi, who had earlier worked in the UK, had returned to Kerala on February 9, while Biju, who allegedly planned the crossing into Israel, is still in Jordan, he said.

“On reaching Jordan, we stayed at a hotel in Amman. Joshi told us that he would go back to Kerala and bring more people to Jordan for an Egypt-Israel tour package. After Joshi returned to Kerala, Biju, who works in Jordan, told the two of us (Edison and Thomas) that a guide would take us to Israel,” Edison said.

According to him, Biju had promised them a job in Israel with a monthly salary of Rs 3.5 lakh. “I paid him Rs 2.10 lakh. Apart from that, he wanted us to give him Rs 50,000 every month once we joined the work. We know driving, plumbing, painting and other sundry jobs…,” he said.

On February 10, a Sri Lankan national took them on a one-and-a-half hour journey to the seashore, Edison said. According to the embassy’s letter to Thomas’s family, they were trying to cross the border at Jordan’s Karak district. Google Maps shows that the closest point between the Jordanian border near Karak and the Israeli border is near the Dead Sea.

“It was a one-and-a-half hour journey and we changed cars in between at the behest of the guide. A person from Israel was in touch with the guide through WhatsApp and we kept sharing our location. We were given a new SIM card and the person from Israel was controlling our movement. At night, we were dropped by the seashore,” Edison said.

He recalled that they came under fire from security forces while walking along the seashore at around 11 pm.

“I was the first to get hit. Days later, when I regained consciousness, I was under treatment at a camp. I was then produced before a court, which sent me to jail. Then only did I realise that Thomas was missing,” he said.

He explained that he managed to make a call back home from a phone in jail. “I told the family to send a return ticket to facilitate my release from jail. After the return ticket reached me, I was released on February 27,” he said.

While Edison was in jail, the whereabouts of Thomas was not known to anyone back home. “From jail, I had called Thomas’s family and informed them that he was missing. Then, they asked for the embassy’s help, which in turn informed them about his death,” said Edison.