Saran (Bihar): Five Indian sailors who have been stranded in Iran for 18 months have now made a video appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian government for help in a bid to return home. Harbouring dreams of a better future for themselves, the five youngsters all holding valid qualifications and documents had flown to Iran in 2019, on the pretext of being provided jobs in the merchant navy, through an Indian agent. Aniket S. Yenpure (29) and Mandar M. Worlikar (26) (both Mumbai), Pranav A. Tiwari (21) (Patna), Naveen M. Singh (Uttarakhand), and Thamizh R. Selvan (31) (Chennai) were sailing on the high seas off Oman in February 2020, when they were unknowingly trapped in a treacherous maritime narcotics smuggling racket, leading to their arrest and jail. However, despite having been acquitted in the case, they are still grounded in a foreign land.
According to the information, all their valid documents are still in the possession of the Iranian government and agents, without which they are unable to return to India. The relatives of the sea farers alleged that the the agents charged five lakh from them, following which the men were asked to board an Iranian ship bound to Dubai. The vessel 'MV Artin10', was owned by an Iranian, Razaee Mukkadam which literally changed the course of their lives. The ship's master, Capt. M. Rasool Gharebi took them on board for a series of long voyages lasting around 6-7 weeks, sailing from Iran to Kuwait, Muscat (Oman) and other ports, delivering different types of cargo.
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"On the afternoon of February 20, 2020, Capt. Gharebi suddenly ordered the ship to stop in the high seas and drop anchor, around 140 kms from Muscat. A few hours later, another vessel came and unloaded what appeared to be small 'rice-bags' on our ship," Aniket Yenpure had told media agencies from an unknown location around Chabahar. Since this mid-sea cargo transfer was illegal as per international maritime laws, Worlikar and his co-crew quietly recorded it on their mobile phones as evidence for the Customs and Iran Police authorities at the next port. Unexpectedly, the very next morning (February 21, 2020), an Iran Navy ship intercepted and arrested them all on the high seas and transferred them to the naval ship.
However during interrogation on the naval ship, Capt. Gharebi admitted that the Indian crewmen were innocent and had no knowledge of the illicit cargo transfer operation and that it was he who master-minded the operation in the high seas. Subsequently, the Captain had even attempted suicide by stabbing himself, but was rushed to hospital and survived. The five Indians were also offloaded at the same port town, arrested by the local Counter-Narcotics Department, and shunted to custody by a Konarak City Court. Later, Captain Gharebi and later the ship owner Mukkadam were nabbed in the same case.
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"We felt doomed and helpless...It was only at this stage we learnt that the 'rice-bags' loaded on our ship in the high seas actually was 1.50 tonnes of banned narcotics being smuggled through the sea," said Aniket, adding that they had to spend the next 400 days in jail without committing any crime. Their case was subsequently transferred from Konarak City Court to the Chabahar Court which found them innocent on March 9, 2021 and ordered their immediate release. When they went to collect their passports and other documents, the Counter Narcotics Department in Konarak re-arrested them and produced them before the Konarak Court.
The Konarak Court later ordered their release as per the Chabahar Court ruling, but withheld their travel and other documents effectively leaving the five youngsters high and dry there since March 10, 2021. "In April, we were informed that the Konarak Court had raised certain objections to the Chabahar Court verdict and the matter was transferred to the Supreme Court of Iran. After two months, in end-June 2021, the Iran apex court struck down the Chabahar Court judgment. We have no clue of what lies ahead," Aniket Yenpure said.
Having lost all hope, the sailors in this context have made a 3-minute video seeking PM Modi and the Indian Government's assistance for their release so that they can join their families back home. In the video, the men having narrated their ordeal have also sought strict action against those agents who entrapped them, such that no one else would face such a difficulty in the future.
