Mumbai: CBI Probes Human Trafficking Network Targeting Indians For Combat Roles In Russia-Ukraine War

The CBI is investigating a Malad-based travel company and its director, and a Vasai-based overseas recruitment firm and three of its officials, as part of a probe into a nationwide human trafficking network targeting young people with promises of lucrative jobs in Russia. At least two men who were lured into the scheme have already died.

These traffickers operate as an organised network and lure Indian nationals through social media platforms such as YouTube, and also through their local contacts / agents. Thereafter, the trafficked Indians are trained in combat roles and deployed on the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war against their wishes, agency officials said.

Some of the Maharashtra-based accused being investigated by the CBI are: O.S.D. Bros Travels & Visa Services and its director Rakesh Pandey; and Baba Vlogs Overseas Recruitment Solutions and its officials, Faisal Abdul Mutalib Khan alias Baba, who is based in Dubai, Mohammed Sufiyan Dawood Ahmad Darugar, and his wife Pooja.

“We are investigating how many people these suspects have sent abroad and how much money they have taken from the victims,” an official said. According to the CBI’s FIR, registered on March 6, the network is spread across several states.

The FIR said the men were lured into Russian military service on the pretext of jobs as delivery boys and helpers for the Russian army and they were assured that their duties would not be on the front lines. The men were also told that Russia would issue them an official government card that would all but guarantee them permanent residency.

“Further, it has been learned that on reaching Russia, the passports of these Indian nationals were taken / snatched by agents in Russia. They were being trained in combat roles and provided with Russian army uniforms. Thereafter, these Indian nationals were being deployed at front bases in Russia-Ukraine war zone against their wishes... It has been ascertained that some human trafficking victims were also grievously injured in the war zone,” it says.

The agency has conducted simultaneous searches at around 13 locations in Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Ambala, Chandigarh, Madurai and Chennai and seized cash amounting to more than Rs50 lakh, incriminating documents and electronic records like laptops, mobiles, desktops, CCTV footage. The CBI had come across around 35 instances of victims having been sent abroad, sources said.