NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday arrested four accused in a case related to the trafficking of Indian nationals for combat roles in the Russian Army. Issuing a press note on Tuesday, the CBI stated that two accused, named Arun, and Yesudas Junior were arrested from Kerala on March 6, this year, whereas the remaining two, Nijil Jobi Bensam and Anthony Michael Elangovan were nabbed from Mumbai. The probe agency said that the investigation is underway against other accused persons as well, who are a part of this international network of human traffickers. CBI busted a major human trafficking network on March 6, 2024, running across India targeting gullible youths on the promise of offering lucrative jobs abroad. These traffickers were luring Indian nationals through social media like YouTube, and at times, also via local contacts or agents for highly paid jobs in Russia. “Thereafter, the trafficked Indian Nationals were trained in combat roles and deployed at front bases in the Russia-Ukraine War Zone against their wishes, thus, putting their lives in grave danger,” the CBI press release noted. “It has been ascertained that some of the victims also got grievously injured in the war zone. A case of human trafficking was registered against private Visa Consultancy Firms and agents who were involved in the trafficking of Indian Nationals to Russia under the guise of better employment and high-paying jobs. The human trafficking network of these agents is spread over several States across the country and beyond,” it added. Notably, accused Nijil Jobi Bensam was working in Russia on a contract basis as a translator and was one of the key members of the network operating in Russia for facilitating the recruitment of Indian nationals in the Russian Army. Whereas, Michael 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. Meanwhile, accused Arun and Yesudas Junior were the main recruiters of Indian nationals belonging to Kerala and Tamil Nadu for the Russian Army, the release said.
