The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday made a major breakthrough in the Laos human trafficking and cyber slavery case with the arrest of an absconding accused, who was nabbed with support of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell. Kamran Haider’s arrest marked a significant step towards dismantling the international human trafficking syndicate, the NIA said in a statement.

Along with his co-accused, Haider was allegedly directly involved in arranging flight tickets and documents for the victims and facilitating their “illegal border crossings” with the help of contacts in the Golden Triangle region. The Golden Triangle refers to a large, mountainous region comprising parts of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.

The NIA had chargesheeted Haider and four others in October, in the case relating to a well-organised network of traffickers and touts involved in various illegal activities, the NIA said. The four co-accused were identified as Manjoor Alam alias Guddu, Sahil, Ashish alias Akhil, and Pawan Yadav alias Afzal alias Afroz.

All the accused were “actively involved” in sending vulnerable Indian youngsters to the Golden Triangle region in Lao PDR (Laos), where they were allegedly forced to commit cyber scams targeting European and US citizens, the NIA said. They operated through a consultancy firm, Ali International Services, which functioned as a front for human trafficking, NIA investigations have revealed.

Besides facilitating the entire operation, Haider was also allegedly involved in extorting money through cryptocurrency wallets from victims who tried to escape the clutches of Chinese scammers. Haider was carrying a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh for information leading to his arrest and also had a non-bailable warrant issued against him by the Special NIA Court, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi, the agency said. The NIA investigation in the case is continuing, it added.