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NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old graphic designer from Maharashtra’s Beed district, held captive in Myanmar and forced to work in cyber fraud operations, has told his family that around 800 Indians are facing a similar ordeal and that non-complying hostages are subjected to electric shocks, police said on Friday.The victim, a resident of Nandurghat in Kaij tehsil, has been held captive since last month after he fell prey to an online job offer promising a Rs 70,000 monthly salary for a graphic designing and data entry position in Bangkok.According to police, the man spotted an advertisement on social media and contacted the WhatsApp number provided. Believing the offer to be genuine, he boarded a flight from Pune to Bangkok on June 4. However, upon landing, he was abducted and trafficked to an undisclosed torture camp on the Thailand-Myanmar border, where all his essential travel documents were taken from him.The ordeal came to light when the man managed to make a WhatsApp call to his wife, narrating the horrific conditions of his captivity. He told her that 700 to 800 Indian youths are currently held hostage in these torture camps, including 20 to 25 from Maharashtra. During the call, he said hostages who refuse to comply are subjected to brutal electric shocks and forced to work 16 to 18 hours a day. He also told his wife that two to three captives who confronted their tormentors were brutally tortured to death, police said.His wife immediately approached the Beed cyber police and lodged a complaint. An FIR has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act against unidentified agents and individuals.
MEA informed, investigation underway
Beed cyber police inspector Nilesh Kele said the External Affairs Ministry has been informed about the matter. “Since it is an international matter, the MEA has been informed about it. Investigation is being conducted under the guidance of senior authorities. Other central investigative agencies are also working with the police in the case,” he said.Former state minister Dhananjay Munde has written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, demanding immediate government intervention for the safe extraction of those trapped in Myanmar.
The scale of the crisis
The crisis is part of a larger regional problem. In August 2023, the UN estimated that more than 120,000 people, most of them men from Asia, had been forced to work in scam centres across Southeast Asia. These centres have been particularly prevalent in Myanmar, where they have generated billions of dollars for Chinese underworld crime syndicates and the various armed groups operating in border towns.While scam centres have popped up across the region, Myanmar has emerged as a hub for such operations, with armed groups and criminal syndicates running the torture camps with impunity. The centres are fed by a steady stream of aspiring migrant workers from all over the world, drawn by fake job offers promising high salaries.
