300 trafficked Indians ‘revolt’ in Cambodia; most of them arrested: Andhra Pradesh Police

Visakhapatnam, May 21

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In the wake of a human trafficking racket busted here recently, the Andhra Pradesh police on Tuesday 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 youths 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, police said.

Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner A Ravi Shankar noted that these trafficked Indians caused largescale riots in Jinbei and Compound, Sihanoukvile in Cambodia, which is allegedly a hub for cyber-crime.

“Many people called up Visakha city police Whatsapp numbers and sent videos. Yesterday (Monday), around 300 Indians ‘revolted’ on largescale against their handlers in Cambodia,” said Shankar in a release.

On May 18, Vizag police arrested Chukka Rajesh, S Kondala Rao and M Jnaneshwar Rao on human trafficking charges for luring youth from India with data entry jobs in Singapore but they would actually traffic them to Cambodia for carrying out cyber-crime.

Once in Cambodia, the youths would be held captive, tortured and compelled by Chinese handlers to execute scams such as task game fraud, stock market fraud and others, police said.

In an effort to extend assistance, police contacted the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and related departments to repatriate the youth safely as most of them have been lodged in a jail after Monday’s ‘revolt’.

According to Visakhapatnam Joint Commissioner of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli, nearly 5,000 Indians were trafficked to Cambodia from across the country through various agents.

Kaginelli told PTI that with the three arrested persons, 150 youths have been traced to Cambodia.