Seven migrant workers held captive by alleged job racket in Kochi rescued

The Cheranalloor police on Friday (June 12, 2026) rescued seven migrant workers who had been confined to a rented building on Mundiath Road near Cheranalloor by an alleged inter-State job racket. The police arrested a West Bengal native, Abdul Rahim, in connection with the incident, while at least 11 others allegedly involved in the racket are reportedly on the run.

Rahim, a native of Siliguri, was arrested from the premises of Ernakulam Junction railway station. The victims, who are from Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka, were found in a frail condition, the police said.

According to the police, the accused had collected ₹30 lakh each from the victims, all of whom had only school-level education, after promising to facilitate their migration to Canada. The victims were then brought to Kochi and allegedly held captive in a rented building. The accused also made the victims record videos to convince their families that they had reached Canada. The videos were filmed by making the victims stand in front of life-size flex boards displaying images of Canadian locations, the police said.

The police acted on a tip-off after one of the victims managed to escape from the rented house. Around 11 members of the racket fled with the money collected from the victims after sensing danger, the police said.

The police also recovered the victims’ mobile phones and passports and seized around ₹1 lakh in cash from Rahim. He was produced before a magistrate court on Friday and remanded to judicial custody. Efforts have been intensified to trace the remaining accused. Investigators suspect that the group may have been involved in similar job frauds in other States.

The rescue operation and the arrest were carried out by a team led by Inspector Jayashankar under the direction of Ernakulam Central Assistant Commissioner of Police Premanand Krishnan.