New Delhi:

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday said it has arrested four people, including a contractual translator in the Russian Defence Ministry, for trafficking Indian nationals to the Russia-Ukraine war zone.

The central agency said that Arun and Yesudas Junior, both residents of Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, were arrested on Monday, while Nijil Jobi Bensam, a contractual employee in the Russian Defence Ministry, and Anthony Michael Elangovan, a resident of Mumbai, were arrested on April 24, and sent to judicial custody.

“These traffickers have been operating as an organized network and were luring Indian nationals through social media channels like YouTube and also through their local contacts and agents for highly paid jobs in Russia,” the CBI said in an official statement.

The trafficked Indian nationals were trained in combat roles and deployed at front bases in the Russia-Ukraine war zone “against their wishes”, the agency said, adding that some of them also got grievously injured in the ongoing war, which broke out when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Bensam was one of the key members of the network operating in Russia for facilitating the recruitment of Indian nationals in the Russian Army.

Anthony was facilitating his co-accused Faisal Baba based in Dubai and others based in Russia in getting the visa processing done in Chennai and booking the air tickets for victims to go to Russia.

Arun and Yesudas were the main recruiters of Indian nationals belonging to Kerala and Tamil Nadu for the Russian Army, the CBI said.

A case of human trafficking was registered against private visa consultancy firms and agents who were involved in the human trafficking network, which is “spread over several states across the country and beyond”, the agency said.

How Human Trafficking Network Worked

Various companies of private visa consultancy used to connect with Indians who were interested in jobs abroad by making videos through YouTube.

In the videos, they used to show that everything was fine in Russia and that there were different types of jobs in the Russian Army, like being a helper, handling the paperwork, and evacuating the buildings destroyed in the war.

The Indian nationals were told that they would not have to go to the border and fight the war.

They were also told that they would be trained for three months, during which they would be paid Rs 40,000, and Rs 1 lakh after the training is completed.

The Indians were then forced to undergo military training as they were allegedly given misleading translations of documents, which said they either accept imprisonment for 10 years or join the Russian army.

The CBI has found that a Delhi-based visa consultancy company has sent about 180 Indians to Russia. The central agencies are currently working to facilitate their release.