The Sahar police on Monday arrested a 29-year-old Gujarat native at Mumbai airport for allegedly trafficking two youths to Laos under the pretext of IT jobs. The real intent, police said, was to push them into a cyber fraud scheme known as a ‘chatting scam.’
Recently, the Maharashtra Cyber Department rescued six persons, including a woman, from Laos in connection with a human trafficking and cyber fraud case
The accused, Parthkumar Chauhan, had promised lucrative software jobs to Yash Prajapati, 21, and Arun Jinjala, 20, both from Surat, but planned to involve them in online scams targeting foreigners through fake cryptocurrency investment offers.
According to police, Chauhan and the two youths were trying to board a VietJet flight to Laos via Vietnam. Immigration officials grew suspicious after noticing inconsistencies in Chauhan’s answers and brought all three in for further questioning. Both youths claimed they were headed to Laos for work.
An FIR was registered on May 26 based on a complaint filed by an immigration officer. Investigations revealed that Chauhan had previously travelled to Laos and Vietnam to work as a scammer, targeting US, Canadian, and Australian citizens via social media.
Chauhan had first gone to Laos in December 2022 through a Dubai-based agent and returned in early 2023. He again travelled in December 2024 and stayed until March 2025, allegedly engaging in the same cyber fraud. This time, he was attempting to traffic others for similar purposes.
Police rescued the youths and booked Chauhan for trafficking. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone-8, Maneesh Kalwaniya, said that the accused has been remanded to judicial custody. “No prior cases have been filed against him. He doesn’t have much travel history. Further investigation is underway,” he added.
