17 Indian nationals detained in Libyan jail return to India

17 Indian nationals who were detained in Libya since February 2023 were successfully repatriated and returned to India on August 20, the Indian Embassy in Tunisia said on Monday.

The Embassy of India to Libya successfully repatriated 17 Indian Nationals from Punjab and Haryana (on 19 August 2023), who were detained in Libya since February 2023. The Indians safely reached India on 20 August 2023 by Gulf Air flight at 2030 hrs. pic.twitter.com/gnRysnZaw5

— India in Tunisia (@IndiainTunisia) August 21, 2023

The Indian nationals, mostly hailing from from Punjab and Haryana, were allegedly duped by immigration agents who charged them money on the pretext of sending them to Italy – instead sending them to Libya where they were held and and jailed.

Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, who played a role in facilitating the evacuation process, said the youths have requested for the immigration agents to be charged for the deceiving them and the mental ordeal they went through. In a post on the platform X, Sahney said the 17 men were charged 13 lakh Indian rupees individually by the agents.

Safely evacuated 17 youth of #punjab & #harayana from Libya after a great deal of ordeal of 3 months who just got saved their lives duped by illegal #immigrationagents charging 13 Lakhs each requesr @CMOPb @mlkhattar @DGPPunjabPolice to register Firs against culprits who… pic.twitter.com/2FItL60bFz

— Vikramjit Singh MP (@vikramsahney) August 20, 2023

The case of the captive Indians was first brought to the attention of the Indian embassy in Tunis, which also covers Libya, in May this year by the families of those held. The group was allegedly taken captive by an armed group in Zwara city in Libya.