Gujarat Police arrest mastermind of major Southeast Asia cyber-slavery network

Gandhinagar: Gujarat Police have arrested the alleged mastermind of a vast international cyber-slavery and human-trafficking racket linked to Chinese crime syndicates operating out of Myanmar and Cambodia. Deputy chief minister and Home minister Harsh Sanghavi announced on Tuesday that the accused, Nilesh Purohit, also known as Neel or “The Ghost”, was taken into custody by the CID-Crime’s Cyber Centre for Excellence.

According to officials, Purohit was the central figure in a highly organised network that trafficked Indian and foreign nationals to scam compounds in Southeast Asia, where victims were forced to carry out cyber fraud activities. He was arrested in Gandhinagar while allegedly preparing to flee to Malaysia.

The CID-Crime had recently apprehended two of his key associates, sub-agents Hitesh Somaiya and Sonal Faldu, as well as two other accused, Bhavdeep Jadeja and Hardeep Jadeja, who were involved in recruiting victims with the promise of lucrative jobs abroad. Investigators said jobseekers were deceived through social media platforms and then trafficked to scam centres controlled by Chinese gangs.

Sanghavi said Purohit oversaw a network of more than 126 sub-agents and maintained contact with over 30 Pakistani agents. He also had direct links with more than 100 Chinese and foreign companies that supplied manpower to cyber-fraud operations across Myanmar and Cambodia. Preliminary findings suggest he planned to send more than 1,000 additional people to Southeast Asia.

An official release stated that just a day before his arrest, Purohit had sent a man from Punjab to Cambodia. Records also show he had travelled extensively to countries including Dubai, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Iran as part of the trafficking network’s operations.

Authorities believe Purohit trafficked more than 500 individuals from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, Benin, Tunisia and the Philippines to Myanmar and Cambodia. Once the victims arrived, their passports were seized and they were forced to carry out cybercrimes such as phishing schemes, cryptocurrency fraud, Ponzi scams and dating-app traps. Those who resisted were subjected to severe physical and psychological abuse.

Investigators revealed that Purohit earned commissions ranging from Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 3.7 lakh per victim, sharing 30–40 per cent of the proceeds with his sub-agents. The racket reportedly handled transactions worth crores through mule bank accounts and multiple crypto wallets to obscure the money trail.

Police say the interrogation of Purohit is expected to uncover further links in the international cyber-slavery syndicate, as the probe widens into one of the biggest organised trafficking networks cracked in recent years.

(with inputs from agencies)