TN man braves barriers to get home, held for breaking visa rules

CHENNAI: A 31-year-old man from Perambalur, who went to Saudi Arabia in 2011 to work as a driver and returned from Dubai after travelling through conflict-hit Yemen, which has a strong ISIS presence, in a bid to reach home somehow, was detained by the security agencies at the airport for violating passport rules.

The passenger was identifed as Nizamudeen of Visvakudi in Perambalur. Because the passenger had a Yemen visa, though he was coming from Dubai, the immigration team detained him for questioning.

Because the security condition in Yemen is fragile due to domestic conflicts and humanitarian crisis, the Indian government had banned Indian national from travelling to that country. Any Indian citizen who ignores the travel ban and travels to Yemen shall be accountable for the action under Section 12 of the Passports Act.

Also, the passport of the person will be impounded or revoked, an order issued by the Indian government in 2017 said.

A detailed enquiry with Nizamudeen revealed that though he was aware of the ban order, he had no other option to reach back to India, sources said. He was in Yemen for less than 10 days.

His travel plan from Saudi was stalled by authorities because of two cases pending against him based on a complaint by his former employer, sources said.

He was a car driver in Vellore, but in Saudi, he was forced to drive heavy vehicles. There he was involved in an accident and a court case was going on against him, as the employer had demanded him to pay compensation in the accident case.

After spending 25 days in jail he stayed at an Indian friend’s room in Riyadh and was doing temporary work like car wash and container cleaning.

After fighting the case for many years the court released Nizamudeen from the case but when he tried to return to India during COVID lockdown, immigration officials told him that two more cases were pending against him based on theft complaints filed by his former employer.

Then he discussed the issue with a Bangladesh friend who advised him to travel through Yemen to India. On April 6, Nizamudeen crossed the Saudi-Yemen border by taxi. On April 8, he was detained in Sanna, Yemen. Two agents helped him get clearance after paying them 1000 riyals and travelled to Sudan on April 15. He travelled from Sudan to Dubai the next day and from there to Chennai on Saturday.

Nizamudeen was handed over to Chennai police CCB for action as he violated passport rules.

Nizamudeen was in Yemen for less than 10 days. His travel plan from Saudi was stalled by authorities because of two cases pending against him based on a complaint filed by his former employer