KBR, Daoud and Partners charged with human trafficking

Defense contractor accused of human trafficking
By AMY TAXIN, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, August 28, 2008



(08-28) 11:55 PDT Los Angeles, CA (AP) --

Defense contractor KBR Inc. and a Jordanian subcontractor have been accused of human trafficking in a federal lawsuit filed after an insurgent attack in Iraq led to the killing of 12 men.



The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court alleged the workers were captured and later killed while they were being taken to work on a U.S. air base in Iraq.

The 13 Nepali men were recruited by Daoud & Partners and other subcontractors with promises of work at a posh hotel in Amman before their passports were taken and they were sent to work on the Al Asad Air Base in 2004, according to the lawsuit.

Twelve of the men were captured by Iraqi insurgents who intercepted their caravan on their way to the base. The men were killed days later.

Buddi Prasad Gurung, a Nepali worker whose car survived the attack, was forced to work on the base as a warehouse loader for 15 months, the lawsuit said.

The case was filed by relatives of the dead workers and Gurung, who has since returned to Nepal.
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