Ganesh Khawas (Tharu) from Dhanpalthan Rural Municipality-7 in Morang reached the Southeast Asian country of Cambodia on a visit visa last year. After falling into the trap of human traffickers, the broker had charged him Rs 450,000 by promising him ‘easy work in a juice and shoe factory’. However, after reaching Cambodia, he fell from grace.

Reason: There was neither juice factory work nor shoe factory work. There was hard physical labor like carrying sand on the beach and lifting iron in big construction companies.

After getting bored with the same job in Cambodia for some time, he came up with another trick and started getting involved with brokers. He hatched a plan to lure the youth of the village into the trap he himself had fallen into and collect a large amount of money for the same. His plan was successful. Not only relatives, but also other youth of the village reached Cambodia after paying 450,000-450,000 rupees.

However, they also suffered the same pain. The work was not as promised, the salary was half, and the torture was double. After suffering for 3-4 months, they were forced to return by asking for money from home. The youth who returned from Cambodia have filed a complaint with the District Administration Office, Morang, demanding the return of the trapped money.

On the same basis, Bishwa Khawas and Ganesh's son Anil Khawas, who facilitated the sending of 6 youths from Dhanpalathan and Katahari to Cambodia, have been arrested. Chief District Officer Yubaraj Kattel said that strict action will be taken against anyone who cheats them by sending the youth abroad.

It has been revealed that the Khawas group has extorted Rs 2.7 million from 6 youths. Vijay Khawas of Katahari-7 says, 'We were lied to about 90 thousand salary in the juice factory, easy work. We fell for that sweet temptation, we lost lakhs.'

Vijay, who returned from Saudi Arabia some time ago, had taken a loan of Rs 5 lakh at an interest of three percent after hearing that he would earn a lot of money in Cambodia and paid it to the broker. Now the interest on the loan alone has reached Rs 1 lakh.

Sanjit Khawas of Dhanpalathan-5 is also in a similar predicament. 'We were told a salary of 90 thousand in the juice factory, but after reaching there, we were made to carry gravel and sand. The salary was also half of what was said,' he said. Ganesh is the uncle of Vishwa Khawas, who is in Cambodia. He had paid the money confidently because he was his own man. However, he returned within a month after having to work hard there.