New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday conducted a multi-state search operation in connection with the Laos human trafficking and cyber fraud case. Searches were conducted at five locations in Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan as part of the agency’s crackdown on individuals and travel agents involved in the trafficking of vulnerable youth from India to the Golden Triangle SEZ in Laos.
The searches led to the seizure of incriminating materials, including digital devices and documents, the NIA said. The targeted locations were premises associated with aides and offices of the key accused, Balwant alias Bobby Kataria. The NIA investigations revealed that the suspects were allegedly handling the victims in trafficking and also managing their logistics and recruitment to a cyber fraud company in Laos.
The human trafficking syndicate under the scanner was operating from Gurugram and other regions within and outside India. It related to the recruitment, transportation and transfer of the victims from India to the Golden Triangle SEZ in Laos.
Initial investigations in the case, originally registered by the Gurugram police and taken over by NIA earlier this month revealed that the suspects whose premises were searched on Friday had been working for accused Balwant alias Bobby Kataria, owner of MBK Global Visa Private Limited in Delhi, Haryana, and Rajasthan. “They were instrumental in enticing youth with the promise of lucrative jobs in foreign countries,” the agency said.
“Victims proficient in English were lured through social media channels and fraudulently sent to Laos where they were forced to work in fake call centres. They were physically abused and their travel documents were taken away if they refused to cooperate,” the investigation revealed.
The NIA is conducting its investigation in the case RC-07/2024/NIA/DLI under various Sections of the IPC and Emigration Act. Meanwhile, in another development, the NIA conducted extensive searches at three locations in Gujarat and Maharashtra cracking down on suspects involved in the 2021 Visakhapatnam Pakistani ISI espionage case relating to leakage of classified defence information.
The residences of the suspects, believed to have received money from Pakistan to spy on Indian defence establishments were thoroughly searched by NIA teams at three locations. Several incriminating materials, including mobile phones and documents, were seized during the searches.
The NIA is examining the seized materials to identify more linkages in the case, originally filed by the Counter Intelligence Cell, Andhra Pradesh, on January 12, 2021, under various Sections of the IPC, UA(P) Act and Official Secrets Act, 1923. The NIA took over the case in June 2023.
On July 19, 2023, it filed a chargesheet against two accused, including an absconding Pakistani national. This was followed by two more chargesheets against three others, including a Pakistani national.
NIA investigations revealed that Pakistani nationals had collaborated with the arrested accused in the espionage racket, in which sensitive and vital information about the Indian Navy was being leaked as part of a conspiracy to unleash terrorist violence in India.
Read more: 13 Indians, Lured into Unsafe Work in Laos, Rescued
