Cops seek traffickers’ custody

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The Kochi police will approach the Aluva chief judicial magistrate’s court on Monday, seeking custody of Tom Baby and Suby Kurien, the CEO and HR head of ShadWell’s, the education management firm which is under the police radar now for their alleged attempt to traffic four men to the US.

The men were sought to be sent to the US in the guise of attending an education conference there. The two executives, now in judicial custody, will be quizzed by the SIT to ascertain if the firm had trafficked more people in a similar fashion in the past.

District crime records bureau ACP Ammos Mammen who heads the team said they suspected ShadWell’s had sent several men abroad in the last five years. “They have been functioning smoothly. Their attempt to send four men to the US was also done in a very casual manner.

The firm was busted only bec-ause of a thorough probe done by US consulate in Chennai. No other consul-ate conducts strict checks like that, so chances are high that the firm might have sent several people to other countries,” Ammos Mammen told DC.

The firm was trying to send Mariyadasan Raju, Ajiv Andrews, Jibson Thomas and Prince Lopez — all from Thiruvanant-hapuram — to the US using fake certificates in the guise of attending an educational conference.

ShadWell’s executives told the consulate that the four were being sent to present research papers in the US.

However, the consulate probe showed these were semi-literates – two of them fishermen, and one each a tailor and a painter. The four later confessed that they were encouraged into the racket by visa agents.

The consulate then transferred the case to the Union home ministry. The intelligence wing also conducted a probe following home ministry’s order, in which it was found that ShadWell’s was attempting human trafficking.

Kochi police arrested the two executives on Saturday, and they were sent to the Aluva sub jail after being remanded.