New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) Security agencies have sent mobile phones of seven arrested foreigners, including a self-styled US mercenary, for data extraction to unearth a larger conspiracy of using Indian ethnic groups to hamper national security, officials said on Thursday.
Besides, social media accounts of the accused, six of them Ukrainian nationals, are also being scanned to find out source of funding, mastermind of the conspiracy and their unknown accomplices, they said.
Acting on a specific tip-off last week, the Bureau of Immigration detained these seven persons while they were attempting to move through major Indian transit hubs. They were later arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
According to an FIR filed by the NIA, 14 Ukrainians had entered India on tourist visa on separate dates and flew to Guwahati (Assam) and then to Mizoram without requisite Restricted Area Permit (RAP)/Protected Area Permit (PAP).
The group then entered Myanmar “illegally” to conduct a pre-scheduled training for Myanmar-based Ethnics Armed Groups (EAGs), known to support terrorist organisations operating in India in the domain of drone warfare and jamming technology, it said.
“These EAGs are also known to be supporting some proscribed Indian insurgent groups by way of supplying weapons and other terrorist hardware and training them, thus affecting national security and interest of India,” the FIR stated.
The seven arrested include Matthew Aaron VanDyke, a US citizen and international security analyst, who was detained at Kolkata airport. He is the founder of ‘Sons of Liberty International (SOLI)’ and a self-described veteran of the ‘Libyan Revolution’.
Six Ukrainian nationals, identified as Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor, were first detained from Delhi and Lucknow airports.
All of them have been charged for engaging in unlawful activities for allegedly helping armed militia in Myanmar, which work closely with anti-India insurgent groups, the officials said.
VanDyke’s organisation SOLI provides free security consulting, training, supplies, and other services to vulnerable populations to enable them to defend themselves against terrorists and insurgents. It is said to have facilitated “missions” in Ukraine, Venezuela, the Philippines and Iraq.
Through ‘Operation Nineveh Rising’, SOLI aided deployment of teams of US military veterans to train hundreds of Assyrians (ethnic community) to defeat terror outfit Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on the battlefield, according to its website.
Security agencies have now sent seized mobile phones of these seven accused persons to Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a specialised cyber security agency, for data extraction and its analysis, the officials said quoting the FIR.
“It is very important to analyse the data of their mobile phones to unearth the conspiracy which was being hatched by accused persons to use local ethnic groups of India to hamper national security of India,” the FIR said.
Furthering its probe, the security agencies are questioning the accused about the route opted by them and to apprehend close unknown associates, who are still at large.
The agencies are also looking at the accused’s social media activities to identify their unknown accomplices, the officials said.
The accused are also alleged to have imported huge consignments of drones from Europe to Myanmar through India for use of the EAGs, they said, adding that the source of their funding and “mastermind” were also being ascertained.
Meanwhile, the arrested persons were produced before a court here on March 16, which sent them to 11-day NIA custody.
The court has also ordered their medical examination after every 48 hours and allowed them to meet their respective counsels/relatives for 20 minutes on every alternate day.
All constitutional and statutory requirements were observed while arresting the accused and the grounds of their arrest were communicated to them in English as well as in their native language in writing and acknowledgement was also received, the officials said.
Meanwhile, the embassy of Ukraine here on Thursday took strong note of media reports indicating that the initiation of action in the case was “prompted” by information provided by the Russian side.
In a statement, the mission expressed its “serious concern” over what it claimed as the “presence of circumstances that point to a possible orchestrated and politically motivated nature of this case, as evidenced, in particular, by the facts known at this stage”.
“Ukraine firmly rejects any insinuations regarding the possible involvement of the Ukrainian state in supporting terrorist activities,” it said.
On the contrary, Ukraine consistently advocates for strengthening security, trust, and cooperation with India as an influential and friendly state, it added.
“Instead, it is Russia, as an aggressor state, that seeks under every circumstance to drive a wedge between friendly countries — Ukraine and India,” the embassy alleged.
The issue of foreigners visiting Mizoram and then leaving the state unnoticed was also raised by Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma.
He had in March last year said that nearly 2,000 foreigners visited Mizoram between June and December 2024, and many of them did not come as tourists.
Lalduhoma said Mizoram was being secretly used as a transit route by foreigners travelling to Myanmar, which has become a grave concern for the Centre.
He had alleged that some foreigners even crossed the Indo-Myanmar border and entered Chin Hills in the neighbouring country to give military training to insurgent groups there.
Mizoram shares around 510-km-long border with Myanmar.
The Centre has already decided to fence the entire 1,643-km Indo-Myanmar border, running through Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland.
Meanwhile, the NIA maintains that the case is in the initial stages of investigation and it won’t be able to share details at this stage.
“The same will be shared at an appropriate time,” an NIA spokesperson said. PTI AKV MNR SJK MPB SKL KVK KVK KVK
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