NEW DELHI: Around 32 Indians have been rescued from the captivity of ethnic armed groups in Myawaddy, Myanmar, and almost 70 more Indians are yet be freed from similar captivities. Most of these hostage Indians were reportedly forced to commit cyber crimes by their captors.
The freed Indians were lured to a remote part of Myanmar on the pretext of lucrative jobs in the IT sector. Some fraudulent IT companies, which appear to be engaged in digital scamming and forged crypto activities, had lured the Indian nationals by using agents based in India, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday.
IT jobs are being posted on social media and unsuspecting candidates are being lured to work in Thailand, however, they are being smuggled into Myawaddy area and forcibly made to work long shifts in cybercrimes, cryptocurrencies.
Several hundreds of Indians are still trapped there and many more who are oblivious of the trap continue to be recruited. Myawaddy is controlled by Ethnic Armed Organisations, who have lured citizens of dozens of countries including India, China, Indonesia, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan and Bangladesh amongst others. Myawaddy is a town in Kayin State of Myanmar, close to the border with Thailand. The people after recruitment without any proper documentation are taken to Myanmar illegally and held captive there.
“These recruits are told that they would get visa on arrival in Thailand, whereas Thailand only gives tourist visas on arrival and not work visas, so we are cautioning Indians to not fall for such offers. Antecedents of the recruiting agents must be checked. We are in touch with our mission in Myanmar and Thailand,’’ said Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs.