Indian Woman Goes To Portugal For Job, Gets 'Sold' To Beer Shop Owner

A 28-year-old woman from Nagpur was allegedly trafficked to Portugal and sold to a beer shop owner after a Pune-based firm promised her a high-paying overseas job and extorted her of around Rs 11 lakh.The incident took place last month when the woman came across a consultancy called 'We Migrate' in Pune through Instagram. When she got in touch with them, the agency operators promised her a job as a cashier in Portugal with a high-paying salary of Rs 1.5 lakh per month. They also told her she would have to work only eight hours a day.In the name of visa and other paperwork, the fraudsters extorted a total of Rs 11 lakh from the woman in installments.When the woman landed in Portugal, the "agents" snatched her passport and allegedly held her hostage in a room for two days.The woman was then sold to a beer shop owner, where she was forced to work and subjected to severe mental and physical torture.At one point, the woman asked the fraudsters to return her passport, but they demanded more money from her.After enduring nearly a month of torture, the woman discovered an escape plan. She first fled to Lisbon by bus and then went to Madrid. From there, she managed to return to India via Doha.As she landed in India, the fraudsters demanded another Rs 3 lakh under the pretext of getting her a job in Malta. When she refused, they began threatening to kill her husband and implicate her in false cases.Frustrated, the woman approached the Pune police.A case was filed earlier this week against eight accused, including the operators of 'We Migrate', for human trafficking, fraud, and extortion, and a search is underway, officials said.