18 more illegal migrants from Gujarat held for ransom in Turkey

Their desperation to achieve their US dreams at any cost has landed 18 more people from villages in Gandhinagar and Mehsana in hands of mafia in Istanbul. This was revealed by investigators who are already looking into the disappearance of six people from two Patel families in Turkey last month.

The six persons, comprising two couples and two children including a boy and a girl, from a village in Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar, and travelled to Istanbul on a visitor's visa in January.

The six people abducted in the second week of January as well as the 18 others were abducted by the local mafia in Istanbul," said sources in Gujarat police who along with other agencies are cracking down on illegal immigration rings in the state.

After it was reported that the two families had gone untraceable, their relatives told police that they had been found in a hotel in Istanbul and would return to Ahmedabad in the next 2-3 days.

"However, the families have not returned so far and there is no news of them since. Even as the case remains unsolved, the Indian embassy in Istanbul received an email from relatives of the abducted persons, claiming that the human smugglers were seeking ransom.

The human smuggling rings in the state came under scanner after four of a Patel family from Dingucha in Gandhinagar froze to death near the Canada border while trying to illegally enter the US. Their deaths forced the agencies in the US and Canada to reach out to Gujarat police for better coordination in stemming illegal immigration from the state.