THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major development, as many as six Indians, including two Keralites, were rescued from Cambodia where they were held against their wish and forced to work for cyber scamsters, who mostly targeted Indians.
Two youths each from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu were rescued from an undisclosed location in Cambodia following the intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs after the analysis wing of Kerala cyber investigation team managed to identify their location.
Highly-placed sources said the youths were misled by agents in India and taken to Cambodia. They were forced to work for organised rackets engaged in cyber financial fraud. When the men failed to meet the target set for them by their handlers, they were locked up and subjected to maltreatment.
The cyber sleuths came to know about their ordeal after one of the men managed to alert them about their plight over the phone. The sleuths used a location-grabbing app that they had developed to trace the spot where the men were kept.
“The information was then passed onto the Ministry of External Affairs, which directed the Indian Embassy to intervene. Since the exact location was shared with the ministry, the embassy officials alerted the Cambodian law enforcement agencies and raided the place. The men were rescued and moved to Singapore. From there they were brought back to India,” the sources said.
The sources added that the cyber sleuths had worked for about a month to facilitate the rescue. The six men were brought to their respective states on Thursday and their statements have been recorded by the law enforcement agencies. The police sources said the immediate priority is to identify the agents, who are behind trafficking youths to countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar from where the cyber financial criminals are operating.
On the directive of the Central agencies, the police had recently collected information about people, who had travelled to countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos on tourist visas and failed to return before their visas expired.
MISLED BY AGENTS
Two youths each from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu were rescued from an undisclosed location in Cambodia following the intervention of the MEA
Youths misled by agents in India and taken to Cambodia, forced to work for organised rackets engaged in cyber fraud
When they failed to meet the target set for them by their handlers, they were locked up and subjected to maltreatment