Nashik man involved in global racket forcing people into cyber fraud arrested

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested a man, after massive searches across Nashik in Maharashtra, in connection with the human trafficking and cyber fraud case.

Sudarshan Darade is the sixth person to be arrested in the case in less than three weeks. Earlier on May 27, 2024, NIA arrested five others after multi-state searches in joint operations with the respective state police forces.

The latest 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.

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

Investigations have revealed that Darade was directly involved in an organised trafficking syndicate, engaged in luring and trafficking Indian young people to foreign countries on the false promises of legal employment.

These people were being forced to work in fake call centers in Laos, Golden Triangle SEZ, and Cambodia, among other places, through elaborate syndicates, controlled and operated mainly by foreign nationals. These syndicates were connected to operatives based in various parts of India, as well as other countries like UAE and Vietnam, besides Cambodia, Laos SEZ.

All the accused arrested so far had been working in close collusion with traffickers operating from across the international border to illegally transport Indian youngsters from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to Laos SEZ. These trafficked youth were further coerced into undertaking illegal activities online, such as credit card fraud, investments in Crypto currency using fake applications, honey trapping, as per the NIA investigations, which are still underway.