Indian killed while entering Israel was victim of job scam, family say

An Indian man was shot dead while illegally crossing into Israel, and his family says he was the victim of a job scam. The deceased, Thomas Gabriel Periera, was shot dead by Jordanian security forces on February 10 at the Jordan-Israel border. According to the family, Periera was lured to Jordan with high-paying job offers, but the promised work did not materialize, and he was told he could go to Israel to find work, so he attempted to enter the country illegally.

It is reported that a growing number of Indians are falling victim to job scams and illegally entering other countries in search of work. Periera, 47, was accompanied by his brother-in-law, Edison Chalas, who was injured in the shooting. Mr. Chalas was treated in hospital and deported back to India after serving two weeks in prison.

The two men were from the southern Indian state of Kerala, where they made a living driving auto rickshaws. An agent promised them blue-collar jobs in Jordan with monthly earnings of up to 350,000 rupees (about $4,000; £3,110). Mr. Chalas told the BBC that he paid the agent 210,000 rupees before leaving India and another $600 after arriving in Jordan and obtaining a tourist visa.

But when the two arrived in Amman, the Jordanian capital, in early February, the agent told them there were no job opportunities. The agent then suggested they try to cross illegally into Israel, claiming there were plenty of opportunities there. On February 10, Chalas and Periera joined a group that drove for hours to the Jordan-Israel border.

Mr. Chalas recalled: "We traveled by car, it was a long journey. We got in the car at 2 p.m. and arrived at our destination around midnight. Then we were forced to walk several kilometers along the coastline. We were shot at while walking in the dark." The BBC has seen a letter from the Indian Embassy in Jordan to Periera's family. It said, "The security forces tried to stop them, but they did not heed the warnings and the guards opened fire on them."

"Mr. Thomas was shot in the head and died on the spot." However, Mr. Chalas disputed this account, saying "There was no warning (from the guards). They shot directly." He stated, "I was walking slowly behind the others in the dark...that's when I was shot and lost consciousness. I don't know what happened to Thomas."

The BBC has sought comment from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Jordanian authorities regarding Mr. Chalas's allegations. Mr. Chalas said he was later taken to a hospital for treatment, then transferred between several Jordanian government departments before being transferred to a prison, where he was held for 18 days. While in prison, he managed to contact his wife and tell her what had happened, and his wife contacted Indian embassy officials.

Mr. Chalas was deported back to India on February 28. Periera's body remains in Jordan. In response to inquiries from the BBC, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said they are working to repatriate the body to India as soon as possible. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: "I am told that it will take a day or two to complete the paperwork and other things."

On Monday, Shashi Tharoor, the MP representing Periera's constituency of Thiruvananthapuram, said that staff at the Indian Embassy in Jordan had verified the victim's identity and that work had begun on transporting the body. Observers say that despite repeated warnings from the government, many Indians are still falling victim to job scams and risking illegally entering other countries in search of work.

Ajit Kolasseri, CEO of Norka, the Kerala state government department responsible for migration affairs, said: "The way it works is to get a tourist visa for one country and then enter a neighboring country." He added: "No country will accept illegal entry. We have been warning people to be wary of job scams, but they are still being duped."

In recent years, hundreds of Indians have been rescued from scam centers in Cambodia and other parts of Southeast Asia. They were lured overseas with high-paying job offers and then trafficked to these centers. Many other Indian nationals have been lured by false job and study opportunities and forced to fight for Russia in the war against Ukraine.

Irudaya Rajan, chairman of the International Institute of Migration and Development, noted that the 100 Indians who were deported last month after being accused of illegally entering the United States were also lured by the hope of a better life. "They also paid money to agents and were cheated. It is the struggle to earn higher wages [that is driving all of this]."