32 nurses, most of whom graduated from Mangaluru, rescued at airport from ‘trafficker’

Bengaluru, 28: As many as 32 women – all nursing graduates from Kerala – were prevented by the authorities at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru from becoming the victims of a human trafficking racket.

The nurses, most of whom had studied in different nursing colleges in coastal city of Mangaluru, had thought that they were on their way to pursue a short-term course to learn German at University of Traditional Medicine of Armenia (UTMA).

Kala Krishnaswamy, deputy commissioner of police (northeast division), said police registered a case of attempted human trafficking based on a complaint from KIA immigration officials and arrested Tony Tom, who was taking the women to Armenia.

A native of Kerala, Tom runs an education consultancy called Hopesyn Education International at Kankanady area of Mangaluru.

The police officer said Tom through his consultancy offered to facilitate the study at UTMA. Tom was accompanying the women who came to the airport on Monday night to catch a flight for Armenia around 4am on Tuesday. Immigration officials suspected foul play as they doubted the very existence of such a course in the university. They handed over the accused and the women to BIAL police for investigation.

Police said the women found a newspaper ad about the course and contacted Tom’s agency in Mangaluru. The institute assured nursing students jobs in reputed hospitals abroad if they could speak German and they signed up for the German course at UTMA.

Kala said each woman paid Rs 30,000 towards air ticket and visa procedures and $1,200 as course fee to Tony Tom. “We’re not sure what he would have done with the girls in Armenia if there’s no such course at UTMA. We booked him for attempted human trafficking and arrested him,” the DCP said.

BIAL police recorded the statements of all 32 women. They told police Tom had promised them return tickets from Armenia and that the course would be over in two months.

Police sources said immigration officials suspect it’s a human trafficking case as UTMA is a medical science university and students were being taken for a German-language course. BIAL police said they’re verifying Tom’s antecedents.