Three men from Punjab who thought they were travelling to Australia in April ended up in Iran instead and have now gone missing, The Indian Express reported on Thursday.

Their families alleged that they were abducted by a network of agents from Pakistan, who have demanded a ransom of Rs 18 lakh each.

The three men are Amritpal Singh from Hoshiarpur, Hushanpreet Singh from Sangrur, and Jaspal Singh from Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, the Hindustan Times reported.

All of them were in contact with their families through video calls till May 17. Jaspal’s brother Ashok Kumar said that he was taken to Dubai on April 1 and kept there for a month. When Amritpal and Hushanpreet also arrived in Dubai on April 25, all three of them were taken to Tehran on May 1, Kumar said.

He added that the three men were then taken to a place where they were told to strip, The Indian Express reported. “They then made video calls to us and told us that they were kidnapped and were asked to transfer Rs 18 lakh each to bank accounts in Pakistan,” Kumar said.

The Indian Embassy in Tehran said it has taken up the matter strongly with the Iranian authorities and requested that the missing men be traced urgently. “We are also keeping the family members regularly updated of the efforts being made by the Embassy,” it said.

Amritpal’s mother, Gurdip Kaur, said in a police complaint that her son had been promised work in Australia by a person named Dheeraj Atwal and his brother Kamal Atwal, both of whom are travel agents in the Piplanwala town of Hoshiarpur, the Hindustan Times reported.

Amritpal’s family said that they tried to meet the agents to seek their help, but they had fled and switched off their phones.

The police have booked the brothers under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections pertaining to human trafficking and cheating, and under the Punjab Travel Professional Regulation Act.

The police alleged that the accused men took Rs 18 lakh from Amritpal and offered to arrange for him to travel to Australia via Iran through a “donkey route” – a long, roundabout journey designed to dodge border controls.

Husanpreet’s cousin, Manpreet, said that he is the only earning member of his family, The Indian Express reported. “He used to work as a driver here and all relatives had pitched in with money to help him go abroad,” Manpreet said.

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