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The accused were luring Indian youths to foreign countries on false promises of employment, an official statement said. The youths were being forced to work in fake call centres at Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Laos and Cambodia, among other places, as part of the racket, controlled and operated mainly by foreign nationals, it said.
They were coerced into undertaking illegal activities online, such as credit card fraud, investments in cryptocurrency using fake applications, honey trapping, etc., the probe agency said.
Manish Hingu of Vadodara, Pahlad Singh of Gopalganj, Nabialam Ray of southwest Delhi, Balwant Kataria of Gurugram and Sartaj Singh of Chandigarh were arrested following a crackdown at 15 locations in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, it said.
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The searches led to the seizure of several incriminating materials including documents, digital devices, handwritten registers, multiple passports and bogus overseas employment letters, among others.
Eight fresh FIRs have been registered by different state/UT police forces and five accused have been arrested, the NIA said.
Investigations have further revealed that the arrested accused were coordinating with traffickers operating from across the international border to facilitate illegal border-crossing of Indian youths from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to Laos SEZ, it said.
They were working at the behest of foreign-based agents belonging to well organised syndicates that were active in several districts of Maharashtra, UP, Bihar, Gujarat, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana among others, the NIA said.
“These syndicates were further connected to operatives based in other parts of India, as well as foreign countries like the UAE, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos SEZ, etc.,” it added.
The searches and subsequent arrest are part of the NIA probe in a case it took over from the Mumbai Police on May 13.
It found that the human trafficking syndicate was not operating merely in Mumbai but had linkages with other facilitators and traffickers in various parts of the country and across the border, the probe agency said.
The NIA investigations have revealed that the accused were involved in an organised trafficking syndicate engaged in luring and trafficking Indian youths to foreign countries on the false promises of employment.