Gang unearthed engaged in human trade

Balwinder Singh and Lakhwinder Singh, the youth from this border district town who were allegedly sold by Sucha Singh to foreign gangs, were still languishing in a Hungary jail, the SSP added.

The accused had charged from them Rs 3.10 lakh each for sending them to Germany but had instead sent them to Hungary on a tourist visa. But the two were arrested after the expiry of their visas and unearthing of the foreign gang by the Hungarian police.

The SSP said relatives of Balwinder Singh and Lakhwinder Singh lodged a complaint with police on November 4, last year.

The complainants told police that they had paid Rs three lakh to the accused with the promise that the remaining money would be paid after their sons were flown abroad.

A month later the parents were misinformed that their sons had reached Germany and they paid the remaining Rs. 3.20 lakh to one Inderjit Singh.

But to their shock, the parents received a phone call from Sucha Singh from Moscow for the payment of the remaining money. When the complainants told Inderjit Singh about Sucha Singh8217;s demand, Inderjit started avoding them.

Sucha Singh again rang up the boys8217; parents demanding the money, failing which he threatened to get them arrested abroad. Their pleas to Sucha Singh that they had already paid the balance amount to Inderjit fell on deaf ears.

Again to their utter shock, they started receiving phone calls from foreign captors of their sons who were made to shriek on telephones to scare their parents for the payment.

The foreign captors demanded 3000 US Dollars each for the release of the boys, according to the complainants.

The desperate fathers said they then learnt that a Delhi-based Harminder Singh could help them get their sons back as he managed to get his relatives released abroad from the custody of the foreign captors by paying them 3,000 US dollars.

But they said when they contacted Harminder Singh, he demanded 4,000 US dollars each for the release of their sons.

Meanwhile the Hungary police caught their sons from a hideout and sent them to jail, the complainants said.

The SSP said Kanjli Kapurthala born Sucha Singh, who was an illiterate, had become quite an expert in his trade because of his frequent foreign visits.

Varinder Kumar said Sucha Singh first went abroad to Iraq in 1984 and spent one and a half years there. After spending about three months at home in Kanjli, he went to Lebanon where he spent eight years. After the outbreak of war, he went to greece where he stayed for about two years and then shifted his base to Germany, the SSP added.

The police officer said Sucha Singh returned to Punjab on November 1, 1998 and started operating in tandem with Inderjit.

On their modus operandi, the officer said the accused took Indian youths on tourist visa most of the time to Czechoslovakia, and in connivance with police, smuggled them to Germany. If caught, the unfortunate boys would end up in jail like Balwinder Singh and Lakhwinder Singh who ended in a Hungarian jail.

Further investigation was in progress, the SSP added.