NIA: According to an official statement issued on Tuesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested four key accused involved in luring and trafficking Indian youths to foreign countries on the pretext of offering them jobs. The accused arrested on Monday have been identified as Manzoor Alam alias Guddu of Delhi, Sahil and Ashish alias Akhil of Bahadurgarh (Haryana), and Pawan Yadav alias Afroz alias Afzal of Siwan (Bihar), they informed. The NIA investigation revealed that they were part of an organised trafficking syndicate involved in luring and trafficking Indian youths to foreign countries on the pretext of offering them lucrative jobs. ”The trafficked youths were forced to work in fake call centres in Laos, Golden Triangle EEZ, other places in South East Asia region as part of a larger network operated by foreign nationals through agents located in various parts of India, Laos, and other countries,” said the statement issued by the federal probe agency.
Through these call centres, youth were forced to carry out illegal online activities like investment scams, relationship scams and cryptocurrency scams, he said. The NIA, which took over the case from the Delhi Police on June 19 this year, is continuing its investigation to bust all such human trafficking syndicates. In May, the agency conducted extensive searches at 15 locations in six states and two Union Territories in collaboration with the respective state/UT police. The searches led to the registration of eight new FIRs in cases of human trafficking and cyber fraud. Later in June, the NIA charged five accused, including foreign nationals, in a similar case in Mumbai.
