Soiru Velip
Panaji
A Goan youth from Shiroda in Ponda taluka, who was stuck in Cambodia for over a year after he was caught by the local administration there for entering the country illegally, finally reached home on Thursday morning, relieved.
The youth was promised a job in Thailand by a woman agent. However, when he landed in that country, he was taken on a motorcycle towards the Cambodia border where he was detained by the local security agency. The youth, who became a victim of a fake job offer, did not possess an official visa of Cambodia.
The Navhind Times had published a report on February 27, 2025, about the distressed youth waiting for help following his detention in Cambodia.
Director of Goa Commission for NRI Affairs Anthony D’Souza told this daily that the youth reached home on Thursday morning after travelling from Cambodia to Vietnam and then to Goa via Mumbai. According to D’Souza, the youth left Cambodia after his family booked a ticket from Goa to facilitate his return trip home.
Though the Goa Commission for NRI Affairs as well as the Union government had tried their best for the last many months to bring the youth back, he was not released owing to tough policies of the local administration in Cambodia. The attempts to rescue the youth had proved futile despite the Indian Embassy in Cambodia issuing an emergency certificate (travel document).
After becoming aware of being cheated, the youth had managed to reach out to the Indian Embassy for assistance.
Later, the youth was lodged in a shelter home run by an international NGO, which provides humanitarian aid to distressed people worldwide.
The Commission for NRI Affairs had received a complaint from the youth’s mother in July 2024 that her son, who had travelled to Thailand for employment purpose, was in trouble.
Upon receiving the representation from the victim’s mother, the Commission immediately swung into action and, through the Union government, established contact with the Indian Embassy in Cambodia.
