Indian businessman in Dubai buys tickets to send 13 foreign prisoners home

Dubai: A Dubai-based Indian businessman has bought one-way tickets for 13 foreign prisoners, including from Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Afghanistan to return home after they were released from prison in Dubai, a media report said on Tuesday.

Joginder Singh Salaria, the chairman and managing director of Pehal International Transport and founder of Pehal Charitable Trust (PCT Humanity) purchased one-way flight tickets in coordination with Dubai Police authorities for the prisoners who were released from a jail on Monday, the Khaleej Times reported.

The prisoners are from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uganda, Afghanistan, Nigeria, China, and Ethiopia, it said.

The prisoners, according to Salaria, were imprisoned for committing minor crimes and have completed their jail term and will soon fly home.

"Unfortunately, the men could not afford to pay for the air tickets. Dubai Police works with PCT Humanity on several charitable activities, including blood donation campaigns. Now, we are providing travel assistance to 13 people from different countries so they can fly home to meet with their families," he said.

He added, "Police authorities provided us with a list of names of prisoners. Most of the convicts were jailed for committing minor crimes such as overstay cases and small disputes with their employers, etc. They did not have anyone to help them out."

Salaria has been a UAE-resident since 1993 and reached out to social workers in Pakistan via social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube established contacts with them and funded the entire operation.