New Delhi [India]: Continuing with its massive crackdown in a human trafficking and cyber frauds case relating to Laos and other Southeast Asian countries, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested four key accused from Delhi, the agency said on Tuesday.
The accused have been identified as Manjoor Alam alias Guddu of Delhi, Sahil and Ashish alias Akhil of Bahadurgarh (Haryana), and Pawan Yadav alias Afroze alias Afzal of Siwan (Bihar).
The arrested accused were part of the organized trafficking syndicate involved in luring and trafficking Indian youth to foreign countries on the pretext of offering them lucrative jobs, said the NIA in a statement citing its investigations.
“The trafficked youth were forced to work in fake call centers at Laos, Golden Triangle SEZ, among other places in the South East Asian region, as part of the massive network being operated by foreign nationals through operatives based in various parts of India, Laos, and other countries,” said the anti-terror agency.
Through these call centers, the agency said, the youth were coerced into carrying out illegal online activities, such as investment scams, relationship scams, and crypto-currency scams.
The NIA, which had taken over the case from Delhi Police on June 19, 2024, is continuing with its investigations with the aim of dismantling all such human trafficking syndicates.
Earlier in May this year, the agency had conducted extensive searches in 15 locations across six states and two union territories, in collaboration with the respective state and the Union Territory police. The searches had led to the registration of eight new First Information Reports in human trafficking and cyber fraud cases. Subsequently, in June, the NIA had chargesheeted five accused, including foreign nationals, in a similar case in Mumbai.