CHANDIGARH: Duped by a travel agent of Faridkot, the victims, identified as Lakhvir Singh (27) and Raju Singh (22) belonging to Vidrokey village of Moga and Burj Hari Singh village of Ludhiana, respectively, are stranded at the Kuala Lumpur airport .

Travel agent Jagtar Singh from Manuke village in Moga and a partner with Ticket Trawells, allegedly took Rs 1 lakh each from them to send them to Malaysia on work permit.

The two, however, were detained at the airport by the Malaysian airport authorities, telling them they could not enter the country for they had no proper documents. Not only this, the contact of Jagtar at Kuala Lumpur took away Rs 40,000 that was with them on the pretext of getting them to enter the country, leaving both at the mercy of people visiting the airport.

The youths are now surviving on the rice offered by the security staff at the airport, claimed an Australian NRI from Panchkula, Sandeep Chandan, who during a halt on his journey to India recorded their tale of woe on camera. He also took their addresses as well as phone numbers of their parents.

Kuldeep, brother of Lakhvir, said that his brother, along with another relative, Raju, had left for Delhi on Octber 21 to board a flight for Malaysia. He and his father, besides Lakhvir, used to work as daily wagers and in the hope of a better future, they decided to send Lakhvir to Malaysia.

Sister of Raju, too, had a similar story to tell. “We are a family of labourers and sent Raju by hypothecating the ornaments at 3 per cent rate of interest. Now, the family is trying hard to get him back and even paid Rs 60,000 more to the same travel agent in this regard,” she said.

The travel agent, however, took the money, but has been avoiding them or even taking their calls.

Lakhvir, when contacted on phone, said both of them were detained by the Kuala Lumpur airport authorities as soon as they reached there on October 23. They were told that their was some problem with the tickets. Being illiterate they could not understand the real thing, he said.

He did not want the story to be published, fearing a backlash of the travel agent. He added that his men had already confiscated their passports at the airport and could harm them at his instance.

Jagtar, on the other hand, denied that Lakhvir and Raju were stranded at the airport. He claimed that the families had paid him the money to get them back and the boys had already returned to their families. He later switched off his phone.