6 boys stuck in Russian jail return home

Kapurthala, December 26

Six youths trapped in a Russian jail have been able to return to their homes following efforts by MP Balbir Singh Seechewal.

Those back home are Balwinder Singh of Fazilka, Gurmeet Singh of Kapurthala, Gurvish Singh and Harjit Singh of Gurdaspur, Lakhvir Singh of Jalandhar and Rahul of Karnal (Haryana). All of them are aged between 18 and 24 years. The youths said the travel agent had taken Rs 13 lakh each from them for sending them to Spain. They said the agent first took them to Oman and then to Moscow. The agent shared with them a plan of entering Europe through the forests of Belarus. But they were caught, beaten up and then left in the forests of Belarus for several days. They had very little food and had to walk through the forests for 14 hours, surviving by consuming leaves and water.

When they could not enter Europe, they returned to Russia from where the agent made another attempt of making them cross through the Russia-Finland border, but the police caught them and they were jailed in Russia. The youths somehow managed to contact Seechewal on December 17 and 20.

The MP said he contacted the Indian Embassy in Moscow, which facilitated their return to India on December 24.