NEW DELHI, June 14: The NIA on Friday arrested a man from Maharashtra’s Nashik who is suspected to be a key member of an international human trafficking syndicate that forces youngsters into illegal online activities, including credit card frauds and honey trapping.
Sudarshan Darade is the sixth person to be arrested in the case, a statement issued by the probe agency said.
Investigations have revealed that Darade was directly involved in the organised trafficking syndicate that lured and trafficked Indian youths to foreign countries on the false promise of providing them legal employment there, it said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said the youths were being forced to work in fake call centers in Laos, including at the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, and Cambodia, among other places, through elaborate syndicates, controlled and operated mainly by foreign nationals, the statement said.
These syndicates were connected to operatives based in various parts of India as well as other countries like the UAE and Vietnam, besides Cambodia and Laos, it said.
Trafficked youth were coerced into undertaking illegal activities online such as credit card fraud, investments in cryptocurrency using fake applications and honey trapping, according to the ongoing NIA probe.
“The NIA on Friday arrested one person following massive searches across Nashik in Maharashtra in connection with the human trafficking and cyber frauds case,” it said.
Five others were arrested on May 27 in the case following multi-state joint search operations by the NIA and police forces, the statement added.
“Today’s searches led to the seizure of several incriminating materials, including documents, digital devices, details of bank accounts etc., which the NIA is examining to unravel the conspiracy behind the human trafficking and forced cyber fraud case,” the probe agency said.
The NIA had taken over the case from the Mumbai Police on May 13, after preliminary findings revealed a nationwide nexus between the traffickers and cyber fraudsters, operating on orders from international syndicates.
“All the accused arrested so far had been working in close collusion with traffickers operating from across the international border to illegally transport Indian youth from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to Laos SEZ,” the NIA added. (PTI)
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