Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala (file)
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
Congress legislator and Kerala’s former Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has said criminal gangs in Thailand and Myanmar confined IT-skilled youths from Kerala and coerced them to commit online financial and banking frauds.
Moving a submission in the Kerala Assembly on July 9 on the plight of such illegally detained youngsters, Mr. Chennithala said the gangs used social media and false advertising to woo impressionable and unemployed youths by promising them lucrative employment in international call centres based in foreign countries. A shady racket in Kerala facilitated the fraud.
Mr. Chennithala said the gangs “enslaved” such youths and ensured that they remained cut off from the world outside. A few of them had surreptitiously conveyed their plight to relatives in Kerala, bringing the racket under media glare. He said the “IT workforce enslavement racket” posed a real threat to society.
Racket agents busted: CM
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the police had busted agents who facilitated the racket. Law enforcement arrested suspects in Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram, he said.
The Kerala Police have submitted a report on the depth and scale of the racket to the Reserve Bank of India and the India Cybercell Coordination Centre. The State police’s NRI grievances cell, NORKA, and Central agencies worked in tandem to dismantle the criminal network, he said.
Mr. Vijayan said the State government was liaising with the Indian embassies in Thailand and Myanmar to secure the release and ensure the speedy repatriation of Kerala youths in illegal confinement in those countries.