The CBI has arrested four persons who were involved in the trafficking of Indian nationals for combat roles in the Russian army and were forced to fight in the ongoing war against Ukraine in which some of them were grievously injured, sources said on Wednesday.

The agency on Tuesday arrested two alleged recruiters, Arun and Yesudas Junior (also known as Priyan), both residents of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, the CBI spokesperson said. The other two accused — Anthony Michael Elangovan and Nijil Jobi Bensam — were arrested on April 24 from Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, respectively.

“Accused Nijil Jobi Bensam was working in Russia on a contract basis as a translator and was one of the key members of the network operating in Russia for facilitating recruitment of Indian nationals in the Russian army,” the agency said in a statement.

It further said: “Anthony Michael was facilitating his co-accused Faisal Baba based in Dubai and others based in Russia in getting the visa processing done in Chennai and booking the air tickets for victims to go to Russia. Accused Arun and Yesudas Junior were the main recruiters of Indian nationals belonging to Kerala and Tamil Nadu for the Russian army.”

In March this year, the CBI busted the human trafficking networks running across the country and conducted raids after registering an FIR against several visa consultancy firms and agents for allegedly sending youths to the Russia-Ukraine war zone on the pretext of providing lucrative jobs.

The accused had been found engaged in the trafficking of Indian nationals to Russia under the guise of better employment and high-paying jobs and the trafficking network of these agents was suspected to be spread over several states.

The probe also revealed that the agents allegedly duped several Indian students on the pretext of giving them admission to private universities in Russia by making lucrative offers like discounted visa extensions and a discount on fees. Soon after reaching Russia, the passports of these students were forcibly taken by the agents and they were forced to fight the Ukraine war against their will.

“Investigation is continuing against other accused persons who are part of this international network of human traffickers,” the CBI spokesperson said.

He said these traffickers had been operating as an organised network and were luring Indian nationals through social media channels such as YouTube and also through their local contacts or agents for highly paid jobs in Russia.

“After that, the trafficked Indian nationals were trained in combat roles and deployed at front bases in the Russia-Ukraine war zone against their wishes, thus putting their lives in grave danger,” the spokesperson said.