29-year-old arrested for luring duo into cyber slavery in Laos

He was flagged after immigration counter officers suspected foul play seeing him travel to Laos with two other men who did not have return tickets

MUMBAI: A 29-year-old man was arrested on Monday for allegedly trafficking two men into cyber slavery at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport after luring them with jobs related to computers.

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The accused, Parthkumar Ajaybhai Chauhan, hails from Gujarat and was flagged after immigration counter officers suspected foul play seeing him travel to Laos with two other men who did not have return tickets.

According to the Sahar police, around 11pm on Sunday, Deep Chand Lalji Singh, an immigration counter officer, checked Chauhan’s documents. After this, Yash Manubhai Prajapati, 21, one of the victims, came for his immigration check. Their boarding passes showed they were travelling to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, from where they were scheduled to travel to Laos later, said Singh in his statement.

When Singh inquired about their purpose of traveling to Laos, Chauhan explained to Singh that he was taking Prajapati with him to Laos for employment. Suspecting foul play, Singh called in his superior wing in-charge, Rajesh Chaurasia, for further investigation.

Meanwhile, another passenger Arun Shanbag Jinjala, 20, was also flagged as he too was travelling to Laos with Chauhan.

Chaurasia and duty officer Mohit Gugulmane then questioned the three men. They found out that the accused previously travelled to Laos on December 15, 2022, and was supposed to return in March 2024 but returned much later. Chauhan told them he was in contact with a person in Golden Triangle Laos via a chatting app who had arranged a job as a casino agent for him. The officers also found that Prajapati and Jinjala did not have return tickets.

“The immigration officers suspected Chauhan of human trafficking and informed us,” said a police officer. Investigations revealed the victims were BCA graduates. Chauhan, posing as an agent, offered them lucrative jobs in Laos with a monthly salary of ₹60,000 to ₹70,000.

Sahar police arrested Chauhan and found out that he had lured the two men with the false promise of a computer job in Laos while attempting force them into committing cybercrimes.

Chauhan was arrested as per sections 143 (2) (human trafficking) and 143 (3) (trafficking of more than one person) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and the police have launched an investigation.