Chennai, Nov 10 (IANS): Nine people, including eight from Tamil Nadu, who were among those living as bonded labourers in Myanmar have returned back to Chennai.

The ninth person is from Kerala. They reached Chennai on Thursday morning.

The Keralite is from Parassala near Thiruvananthapuram while the eight Tamilians are from Madurai, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil and Kanniyakumari areas. The nine have left for their respective homes.

These IT professionals were among the many lured into IT jobs in Thailand with a big salary package and had left the shores of India after paying a heavy agency commission.

However on reaching Thailand, the youths were illegally taken to Myanmar and were forced to do illegal works, including cyber blackmailing and cyber frauds.

Some of those trapped as bonded labourers managed to shoot their plight in their phones and forwarded the video to their families back home leading to the matter coming in the open.

There are around 300 bonded labourers in Myanmar and most of those who were taken as IT workers were in areas ruled by armed gangs with little role for the military junta.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin intervened in the matter and 13 people were rescued from Myanmar with the support of the external affairs ministry. Now with nine more people arriving in India, the backroom diplomacy of India seems to be working.