The Week Magazine, February 16th, 1997

Lure, loot and scoot
That is the strategy of 'turnwalas' and agents who trade in visas

Ravi, 22, worked in Mumbai for nine years before he decided to try for a job in the Gulf. So, he approached Rehman, a recruitment agent in Mahim. Today, he is one of the thousands of unemployed youngsters who have lost money and their passports.
Most of them are school dropouts. "I haven't lodged a complaint because I want to apply for another passport from her," says Ravi who got his first one from Kozhikode. George, an electrician, was cheated by Parbat Singh, an agent from Kanpur.
"Parbat told me the Arab was in town and wanted my passport to confirm the job appointment. I did not suspect him because I knew him for four years," says George who has not heard from he agent for eight months. George, who got his passport from Kochi, does not want any trouble and so he has not complained to the police.

In Kerala, go-between promising Gulf jobs charge anything from Rs 70,000 to Rs 2 lakh. In Mumbai, the rates are only slightly lower. People often sell their land and jewellery or borrow heavily to make this kind of money.
Lured by sun-agents in Kerala, the victims land up in Mumbai. They rent rooms in cheap lodges, often waiting for months for that call which never comes.
"It is hard to catch these agents as 95 per cent of them are from outside Maharashtra particularly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu," points out a sub inspector of Sahar police station. His station receives at least 20 complaints a month from the immigration officers at Sahar International Airport about forged visas and passports.
In the sixties, Indians were welcomed with open arms by Arabs who would wait at the ports for ships from India and employ them on the spot. The rackets started after the number of job-seekers swelled.
The scene turned bad after Arabs started coming to Mumbai to recruit labour. "Criminals got into the recruitment business and all agents are forced to go through them. They are called 'turnwalas' and have good relations with the Arabs," says Bashir Pirzada, the owner of Pirzada Tours which organises Haj tours and helps in procuring passports.
Several recruitment agents complain that they are compelled to approach the 'turnwalas' as they have well-organised gangs in control at the Sahar Airport. The gangs take turns to receive Arabs and get visas from them, hence the name. Each gang also has 'bowlers' who keep the Arabs happy. They take them sightseeing and shopping around the city and also provide them young girls and boys. all this for that all-important bunch of visas which the 'turnwalas' sell to the recruitment agents for several lakhs.
Says Pirzada who has been in the business for over 20 years: "I used to protest against the system but I found I was along and it became dangerous. So now I am quieter," he says.
The minimum rate of a turnwala for a visa for skilled categories is Rs 20,000. The agent then charges a higher price from clients. Some of them take money from hundreds of applicants even though they may have less than 50 visas. Even a moderate sum of Rs 40,00 from each applicant converts into profit of crores. While the agent's credentials are established by the 50 who do get jobs, the others are kept in a limbo.
The main sponsor or Kafil as he is known in Arabic, does not come down to Mumbai. He sends his agents who in turn sell visas to the turnwalas, "According to our labour laws, the job applicant does not have to pay anything. Air fare, transit hotel stay and even the airport tax have to be paid by the sponsor. But even highly qualified professionals usually don't know this rule and get cheated," points out Pirzada.
Agents usually destroy the passports of the persons who do not get jobs. Or sell them to racketeers who specialise in fake passports. Often they fetch huge profits after 'matching'- with persons who bear a resemblance to the photograph in the genuine passport-is done. Fake passports are a big bit with those having criminal records.
The agents fool people by showing fake fax messages from fake companies. Sometimes, after a person completes his medicals and get the visa stamped, if the is unable to pay the balance amount- the advance is taken at the time of applying - then his photograph on the passport is switched and the job sold to someone willing to pay.
Another trick is to use the same visa several times. This is done by taking unskilled and semi-skilled labourers to any of the Gulf countries where they are made to work often without salary. Before the expiry of the three-month visa they are sent back by their Arab employers and the same bunch of visas used for another batch.
Fake visas are also available. "Those who specialise in this have rubber stamps of many consulates including USA. These visas look absolutely genuine," says a recruitment agent of Mahim.
Mahim is notorious for hundreds of recruitment offices, which promise lucrative jobs specially in the Gulf. "Ninety per cent of recruitment agencies in Mumbai are frauds. Even a license is no guarantee,' says Pirzada. All that is required is a bank guarantee of Rs 1 lakh for recruiting 100 people, and Rs 5 lakh for 1000 and above. Many agents just vanish after they make a few crores. That's what Ravi found out when he went to inquire about the sales job in a Dubai shop which he was promised. but Rehman had shut down his Mahim office and vanished.
The latest trend is to recruit young, good-looking women as maids and beauticians. But they usually end up as sex workers in the more liberal Gulf nations.

MARIA ABRAHAM

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