Topic: Five detained Indians freed in Iraq

Team Infidel

Media: Times of India
Byline: n/a
Date: 22 August 2006

NEW DELHI: Iraq on Tuesday released five Indian truck drivers who were taken
into police custody in Basara early this month.

The five Indians, two from Punjab and three from Kerala, were freed by the
Iraqi police and they had reached Kuwait, Minister of State for External
Affairs E Ahamed said.

They were detained when they were transporting cargo from Kuwait to the
Iraqi border for their employers, Kuwait and Gulf Links (KGL) company.

Indian Ambassador to Kuwait M Ganapathi will meet the five truck drivers on
Wednesday.

The Indian embassy in Kuwait had requested KGL to help in the release of the
five detained Indians - Bala Ramachandran, Devraj, Sedhu Johny Bhasha (all
from Kerala), Gulvinder Singh and Sanjeev Kumar Ramavtar (both from Punjab).
KGL hired a legal counsel to help secure their release.

The Indian government had slapped a ban on travel to Iraq by Indian workers
after the abduction of three truck drivers in that country two years ago.
The advisory is still in force and any Indian going to Iraq is doing so at
his own risk, officials said.

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