KAPURTHALA, July 6 — A harrowing tale of survival has emerged from Punjab’s Baja village, where 25-year-old Balwinder Singh returned to contact after being held hostage by a Colombian gang in jungle camps for nearly five months. Lured by the promise of a better life in the United States, Balwinder instead became a victim of human trafficking and narrowly escaped death in one of South America’s most dangerous terrains.
Balwinder’s family said they paid Rs 28 lakh to four travel agents from Amritpur to facilitate his migration to the US in July 2024. He was routed through Mumbai and multiple countries before being handed over to a criminal syndicate in Colombia. Trapped in makeshift jungle camps with four other youths from Punjab and Haryana, Balwinder endured inhuman conditions and witnessed unspeakable horrors.
According to the family, three of the young men held with him were tortured to death. “The criminals used plastic bags to suffocate them, burned them with metal rods, melted plastic on their skin, and cut them with blades,” a family member said. “Balwinder heard their screams every day. He knew he would be next.”
In a miraculous escape, Balwinder fled the jungle camp and trekked nearly 600 kilometers through hazardous terrain before reaching a Colombian city. He contacted his family after five months of silence, sending them into tears of both anguish and relief.
His mother, Shinder Kaur, said the family was devastated. “We sold our three-acre land and house to pay for his journey. My husband is chronically ill but still works as a daily wager. We now live in a rented home. All we want is for our son to return safely.”
The family has filed a formal complaint with the Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) against the four agents involved in the trafficking. Rajya Sabha MP Balbir Singh Seechewal, currently in Canada, has intervened in the case. He raised the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs and contacted the Indian Embassy in Colombia to expedite Balwinder’s repatriation.
Balwinder had left India on July 18, 2024, with dreams of building a new life in the US — a dream that turned into a prolonged nightmare of captivity, torture, and survival in the jungles of Colombia. His case adds to the growing list of Indian youths falling prey to human traffickers posing as migration facilitators.
