Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said her ministry had managed to secure the release of five Indians from a jail in Togo. She credited the success of the effort to the Indian mission in Accra and the consulate in Togo.
The prisoners, who have been in custody in the West African country since 2013, are from Kerala. In 2016, then Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh had told the Rajya Sabha that the Togolese government had convicted the five accused and that the Indian ministry was trying to secure their release, The Times of India reported.
They were employees of a Merchant Navy company and were on board a vessel from Mumbai to South Africa at the time of their arrest in 2013. Singh had told Parliament that they were arrested for breaking laws in international waters.
Swaraj’s tenure has been marked by proactive initiatives where she has responded to requests, even on Twitter, to help Indians abroad. In December 2016, Swaraj helped an Indian worker embroiled in a court case in Dubai return to India.
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