Around 50 persons from across the State are suspected to have fallen prey over the past one year to a man who was reportedly arrested on charge of luring young job aspirants on the pretext of highly paid jobs at a Chinese company in Laos, it has emerged.
The Thoppumpady police had arrested Afsar Ashraf, a resident of Palluruthy, on August 7 (Wednesday). He was arrested based on a petition lodged by one of the victims, Shuhaib Hassan of Palluruthy, who reportedly fell prey to the human trafficking racket.
The Kochi City police are preparing to alert the Central government about the possibility of Keralites being trapped in Laos and forced into deceiving people in India by assuming fake identities on social media. The goal is to relay the information to the Indian embassy in Laos through the Central Government and get the law enforcement agencies of the country involved.
It is unclear whether all those flown to Laos were unaware of the true intentions or if some were aware. The accused, who allegedly work for a Chinese company, took six young men from Palluruthy, including the petitioner, to Bangkok on an ‘On Arrival Visa’. From there, they reportedly arranged visas for Laos, where the victims were allegedly forced to sign various documents written in Chinese and had their passports taken.
They were allegedly given fake IDs as Indians based in the U.K., U.S.A., and other European countries. They reportedly had reached out to Indians on social media, offering investment opportunities with promised high returns. Investors were allegedly misled into believing their profits were growing, which encouraged them to invest even more.
