Over 80 rogue job agents nabbed in last four months
Rasika Somarathna
With the latest detection of two bogus foreign employment recruiting
agents in Ja-Ela, authorities said they had nabbed over 80 such rogue
agents during the past four months, who had swindled millions of rupees
by fraudulent means at the expense of prospective job seekers abroad.
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SLBFE Chairman
Kingsley Ranawaka appealed to all foreign employment seekers to
clarify their source before committing themselves. “These
migrant labour hopefuls could contact the nearest SLBFE branch
or police station, SLBFE hot line 011-2880500, its website
www.slbfe.lk etc. for any information, he added. |
The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) said its sleuths
took into custody two suspects who were posing as authorised agents at
Kandawatte, Ja-Ela along with 24 passports in their possession.
Along with the passports, sleuths had also seized forged documents
with the SLBFE emblem and several copies of receipts.
The receipts had been issued to dupe foreign job seekers in return
for the money they had taken, and at the time of arrest the two suspects
had possessed copies of receipts amounting to Rs.1.5 million, sources
added.
However these figures are considered to be only the tip of the ice
berg as the suspects are believed to have cheated numerous others over a
long period with large amounts at stake. They had obtained large sums of
money from unsuspecting foreign employment seekers with the forged SLBFE
emblem.
SLBFE Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said that the Bureau had launched a
detailed investigation into the matter.
He added that a large number of such fraudsters had been detected in
recent times due to the aggressive approach taken by authorities under
the instructions of Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.
“New branches have been set up in rural areas and sleuths have been
advised to intensify raids with an effective propaganda machinery too in
operation to educate the masses. In addition, a special unit to
investigate related complaints has been set up in every Police
division,” he added.
Ranawaka was of the opinion that, people were yet falling for these
fraudsters due to ignorance and desperation.
In a similar case recently, the SLBFE came across an incident where
around 60 people had been duped to nearly Rs. 20 million with the
promise of lucrative jobs in South Korea using a forged SLBFE emblem.
Subsequent to that, authorities said they had busted a large scale
human trafficking racket which tragetted US military camps in Iraq.
Following investigations, the SLBFE took steps to annul the licences
issued to five foreign employment recruitment agencies.
Today remittances made by Sri Lanka’s migrant labour fraternity is
considered as the countries top foreign exchange earner.
Thus many culprits has sought to earn a quick buck buy duping
prospective migrant labours, specially with the unprecedented growth of
the industry in recent times.
Authorities in a bid to plug loop holes in the existing system
recently declared that, they were involved in a major exercise to
overhaul the outdated 1985 Act.
The Foreign Employment and Welfare Ministry too put forward a
National Policy on labour Migration recently. |