NIA crackdown in Nashik, arrest of one more person in human trafficking, cyber fraud case

Sudarshan Darade, from Nashik, is the sixth person arrested in less than three weeks. Earlier, on May 27, 2024, the NIA had arrested five more accused after searches in several states in joint operations with police forces of the respective states.

Today's searches led to the seizure of several incriminating materials, including documents, digital devices, bank account details, etc., which the NIA is probing to unravel the conspiracy behind the human trafficking case human and forced cyber fraud.

The NIA had taken over the case from Mumbai Police on May 13 after preliminary findings revealed a nationwide nexus between traffickers and cyber fraudsters, operating on the orders of international syndicates.

Investigations revealed that Darade was directly involved in the organized trafficking syndicate, engaged in luring and trafficking young Indians to foreign countries on the basis of false promises of legal employment. Youth were forced to work in fake call centers in Laos, the Golden Triangle SEZ, and Cambodia, among others, through labor unions set up, controlled, and managed primarily by foreign nationals.

These syndicates were linked to agents based in various parts of India, as well as other countries like UAE and Vietnam, besides Cambodia, Laos SEZ, etc.

All the accused arrested so far were working in close collusion with traffickers operating across the international border to illegally transport Indian youth from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to the Laos SEZ.

These trafficked youths were further forced to undertake illegal activities online, such as credit card fraud, crypto currency investments using fake apps, honey trapping, etc. in accordance with NIA investigations, which are ongoing.