A distressing case has emerged involving three youngsters from Punjab—hailing from Hoshiarpur, Sangrur, and Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar districts—who have been held captive in Iran by traffickers demanding large sums of money from their families for their release. The youths were reportedly duped by illegal travel agents promising work visas for Australia.
Gurdip Kaur, mother of 23-year-old Amritpal Singh from Bhagowal, lodged a complaint with the police stating that two agents from Piplanwala, brothers Dheeraj and Kamal Attwal, had lured her son with the promise of securing a work permit visa for Australia. She said they took ₹18 lakh as an advance payment. Amritpal, along with Husanpreet Singh from Sangrur and Jaspal Singh from SBS Nagar, boarded a flight from Delhi on May 1.
On May 2, Amritpal called his mother from Iran to inform her that he had reached the country and would soon be sent to Australia. However, within an hour, he called again to say that he and the other two had been held captive by traffickers who claimed they had not been paid by the agents and were demanding hefty sums from the families.
Gurdip described how the traffickers made video calls from the youths’ phones while brutally beating them, insisting that each family transfer ₹18 lakh via MoneyGram for their release. When her family tried to contact the travel agents for help, they found that the agents had fled and their phones were switched off.
Following her complaint, the Model Town police registered an FIR against the accused agents and one of their employees. According to Station House Officer Gursahib Singh, efforts are underway to arrest the absconding agents, though no arrests have been made yet.
