In the wake of a human trafficking racket being busted here recently, Andhra Pradesh on May 21, 2024, said around 300 Indians revolted against their handlers in Cambodia on May 20 leading to most of them being arrested in the foreign country. As many as 150 youth from the port city and its vicinity have been stuck in Cambodia for a year already where they are being coerced to carry out cyber crime and Ponzi scams by Chinese handlers.
The Vishakhapatnam Police Commissioner A Ravi Shankar noted that these trafficked Indians caused large scale riots in Jinbei and Compound Sihanoukvile in Cambodia, which is allegedly a hub for cyber-crime. Many people called up Vishakhapatnam city police WhatsApp numbers and sent videos.
On May 20, 2024, around 300 Indians revolted in a large scale against their handlers in Cambodia, Shankar said in a release. The same day, many youths from Vizag and other parts of the country staged a walkout from their Cambodia offices and openly protested against the fraudulent companies that ensnared them. The youngsters stood united in their cause and refused to participate in the illegal activities that they were forced into and demanded the return of their passports.
Many of them had been promised that they would be paid 500 USD a month but, in many cases, they were not paid for months and were held captive. Some of the captives are from the state of West Bengal. Once they land there, they get stuck ads passports are seized and are then tortured.
On May 18, 2024, the Vizag police arrested Chukka Rajesh, S Kondala Rao and Jnaneshwar Rao on human trafficking charges for luring youth in Cambodia with data entry jobs in Singapore but would actually traffic them to Cambodia for carrying out cyber-crime. “Once in Cambodia, the youth would be held captive, tortured and compelled by Chinses handlers to execute scams such as task game fraud, stock market fraud and others, police said.
In an effort to extend assistance, the police called up Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and related departments to repatriate the youth safely as most of them have been lodged in Jail after May 20’s revolt. According to Vishakhapatnam Joint Police Commissioner of Police Fakerrappa Kaginelli, near 5,000 Indians were trafficked from Cambodia from across the country through various agents.
The Vishakhapatnam Police busted a cybercrime racket arresting consultancy agents luring unemployed youth for Chinese operated cybercrimes in Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand. despite growing awareness many fell prey to sophisticated scams.
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