An Indian shepherd, stranded in Saudi Arabia for 18 years is set to return to his home town of Mangalamedu Taluk in Perambalur district in Tamil Nadu by the end of this week. 45 year old P.Periyarswamy was stranded in Hail region as a shepherd since his Saudi sponsor withheld his salary and didn’t allow him a vacation to go home. Periyarswamy’s story is like several expatriates who get lost in the lure of money and jobs abroad by unscrupulous recruiting agents, only to find themselves cheated at the end.

Periyarswamy came from Mangalamedu in Tamilnadu to Al Shamli in the Hail region, north of Saudi Arabia in 1994, barely a year after his marriage.