4 held for trafficking people to Ukraine war zone

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested four people in connection with the human trafficking racket involved in sending Indian youths to the Russia-Ukraine war zone under the pretext of lucrative jobs.
The accused were identified as Arun, Yesudas Junior, Nijil Jobi Bensam and Anthony Michael Elangovan.
The probe agency said that Bensam, who was working in Russia as a translator on a contract basis, was one of the key members of the network operating in Russia.This network was involved in facilitating the recruitment of Indian nationals into the Russian Army.
“Elangovan was facilitating his co-accused, Faisal Baba, who is based in Dubai, and others in Russia by getting the visa processing done in Chennai and booking air tickets for the targets to travel to Russia,” an official said.
Arun and Junior were the main recruiters of Indian nationals from Kerala and Tamil Nadu for the Russian Army, said the official.
On March 6, CBI had busted the human trafficking network operating across the country, targeting youths with the promise of offering lucrative jobs abroad. These traffickers had been operating as an organised network, luring Indian nationals through social media channels and also through their local contacts and 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.