27 Vizag youths trafficked to Cambodia return home (AP Police)

Visakhapatnam: As many as 27 youths from Visakhapatnam and its surrounding areas who were trafficked to Cambodia arrived here on Friday, a senior police official said.

Visakhapatnam Joint Commissioner of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli said a group of 10 returnees arrived at the port city's airport at 5:30 p.m. and another batch of 15 was expected to arrive here later in the day.

“Two other returnees made their own arrangements to come via Singapore,” Kaginelli told PTI, adding that 27 of the 58 people rescued were from the southern state.

According to the top police official, things started moving in a positive direction after the city police broke the news of human trafficking on May 18.

Police arrested three people on human trafficking charges for luring more than 150 young people from the city and surrounding areas with promises of jobs in the Southeast Asian country. But in reality, they were trafficked to be sold to Chinese operators in Cambodia where they were tortured and confined in dark rooms to commit cybercrimes and Ponzi schemes.

Kanginelli noted that young trafficked victims “revolted” against their masters in Cambodia, leading to the arrest of more than 300 Indians by local authorities.

They (the youth) “revolted” in Jinbei and Compound, Sihanoukvile, Cambodia, which are said to be a hub of cybercrime. This law worked in their favor and set in motion several key departments of the Indian government to work towards their release, including the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Kaginelli said the MEA opened a control room, set up hotlines and also assigned special agents to pursue through diplomatic channels the release of the trafficked youths.

Nine more families contacted the city police to repatriate their children, he said, adding that nearly 100 more trapped people needed to be contacted, identified and repatriated to Vizag.