32 nurses rescued from ‘human trafficker’ at Bengaluru airport

Times of India
Nov 28 2018
32 nurses rescued from 'human trafficker' at Bengaluru airport


Thirty-two women nursing graduates from Kerala, suspected to be victims of a trafficking racket, were on Tuesday rescued at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) when they were on their way to pursue a short-term course to learn German at the 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. Most of the women had studied in Mangaluru.

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

Police said the women found a newspaper advertisement about the course and contacted Tony Tom's Hopesyn Education International 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.

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