Woman held in Vadodara for cyber-trafficking Gujarat youths to Myanmar

In a major crackdown on cyber-trafficking, the Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCoE) in Gandhinagar has arrested Payal Chauhan, a key agent in an international cyber-slavery network operating out of Vadodara’s Undera and Gorwa areas.

Investigators say Chauhan lured young Gujaratis with the promise of high-paying overseas jobs and, with support from Pakistani handlers, facilitated their transport to Southeast Asian countries.

Once the victims landed abroad, they were intercepted by agents of a Chinese gang who seized their passports, phones and travel documents. The recruits were then smuggled across the Moei River into Myanmar’s lawless KK Park in Myawaddy township.

There, Indians were confined in illegal Chinese-run complexes and forced to work as ‘cyber slaves’, conducting online fraud operations including phishing, crypto scams, Ponzi schemes and romance-based cyber fraud.

Those who resisted were allegedly subjected to physical and psychological torture and kept in long-term illegal detention.

The arrested woman worked under main accused Nilesh alias Neel Purohit, arranging flight tickets for victims under the guise of data-entry jobs abroad. During the probe, CCoE officials recovered passport details of Pakistani and Nepali nationals from her mobile phone, suggesting wider international links. She was also allegedly involved in supplying mule accounts, handling cricket betting operations, gaming IDs, crypto activity, and working with master IDs linked to illegal gaming syndicates in Dubai and Goa.

Following the exposure of this criminal network, India, Thailand and Myanmar coordinated a joint Army-led rescue operation to free Indian nationals detained in cyber-crime camps. Nearly 4,000 Indians have been brought home in the last three years.