But his dream was broken. His savings of more than 100,000 yuan were gone, part of which was paid to the organizers, also known as snakeheads. After staying in prison overseas for 17 months, he was repatriated.
Like Mehmut, Alim also enjoyed government leniency and support.
Police officer Hazmet Emer vouched for him to help him restart his life.
Now, Alim has redeemed his land and settled down. His daughter attends kindergarten.
"I hope to share my experience with other people so that everyone can see through the lies about the 'heavenly life' overseas," he told CCTV. "The best and most heavenly place is my hometown."
A COLLEGE STUDENT'S "JIHAD"
Memetaili, 25, was the only son in his family. When he was a freshman in a medical school in Urumqi, Xinjiang's regional capital, some people approached him in the name of imparting "religious knowledge." The "textbooks" they used were audio and video materials made by overseas terrorist groups, according to the CCTV report.
After watching the material, Memetaili felt the urge to "sacrifice" for his religious beliefs. The group then introduced him to a "fellow countryman" abroad, who asked Memetaili to join him.
Memetaili, preoccupied by the idea of jihad, was not able to focus on his studies and let his grades slip.
"My parents said they were disappointed, so I tried to get rid of them by telling them I had no money for the trip. But they asked me not to worry and to get ready immediately," Memetaili said.
He was soon transferred to southwest China and was not allowed to take anything indicating his Chinese nationality with him during the trip.
"I was required to dispose of my clothes that had Chinese on them, my ID card, and even socks," he said.
"They told us if we were arrested in Thailand, we should say we were from Turkey," he said, adding local police could not repatriate them because they had no identification on them.
In Malaysia, Memetaili and other migrants were taken to the Turkish embassy.
"We told the people in the embassy that we were illegal migrants and could not go back, or we would be arrested. They agreed to help us, sent a letter to the Malaysian government and issued identifying papers based on our real names," he said.
