Duped Indians languishing in Lankan jails

Nearly 34 Indian nationals are languishing in Sri Lankan jails on alleged drug charges after being duped by Sri Lankan Tamil drug traffickers in Tamil Nadu who had promised them lucrative jobs abroad.

Nagamuthu Thangavel was 42 when he boarded a flight for Colombo from Chennai. A car driver who was the sole breadwinner of his family, Thangavel was offered a lucrative job overseas by a group of Sri Lankan Tamils who were his neighbours.

“Three Sri Lankans residing near our house noticed our pathetic condition and offered to help us by getting my father a driver’s job in Sri Lanka,” recalled his son Saravanan.

It was on December 11, 1994 that Thangavel left for Colombo carrying a bag containing among other things, sarees, glass bangles, sweet boxes and ladies footwear, which his expat neighbours wanted delivered back home.

On arrival in Colombo, when his baggage was checked by Sri Lankan customs, they found drugs concealed in a specially made cavity in the bag. Since then, Thangavel has been in prison, serving a life term for smuggling narcotics, unable to get legal or diplomatic assistance to have his sentence commuted.

At a seminar on the ‘Organization for Protection of Indian’s Rights Abroad,’ his wife and son poured out their woes before the organisers, a human rights organisation named Manitham.