Awareness programmes to be conducted for youth who aspire jobs abroad and avoid exploitation by fraudsters
Daniel George
Kalaburagi
What began as a dream of better earnings abroad turned into a nightmare for three youths from Kalaburagi, who were duped into joining Russia’s Wagner Army and forced to fight against Ukraine. One of them, 28-year-old Syed Iliyas Hussaini, has now returned home after nine harrowing months, unpaid and uncertain about his future.
Hussaini, along with his friends Mohammed Sameer Ahmed and Abdul Nayoom, left for Russia, lured by a YouTube advertisement promising security guard jobs. The trio, previously employed at Dubai Airport, paid Rs 3.5 lakh each to agents identified as Wogla, Sufiyan, Moin, and Pooja. They were promised salaries of ₹2 lakh, far higher than the Rs 30,000–40,000 they earned in Dubai.
Instead of airport jobs, they were coerced into the war zone along the Russia–Ukraine border. Hussaini said he was even made leader of the Indian recruits, assigning duties daily. We survived only on noodles and tea for nine months. We were fighting against people we did not know, he told City Hilights.
The men were unable to contact their families regularly, borrowing phones from Russian soldiers to make brief calls. They were finally rescued and repatriated to India. Hussaini claims he is still owed nearly ₹10 lakh in unpaid wages.
For their families in Kalaburagi, the ordeal was agonising. Parents who believed their sons had secured safe overseas jobs later discovered they had been forced into a foreign war.
“We were happy to return alive, but our future looks bleak. I have no job and no support from the government. I don’t know how to recover my hard-earned money,” Husaini said.
