Overview

• A special task force under FIR No. 32/25 carried out raids in Hazaribagh district on August 2, leading to multiple arrests.
• Police arrested five individuals, including alleged mastermind Uday Kumar Kushwaha and four associates, in connection with the racket.
• Investigators seized mobile phones, transaction records, WhatsApp chat logs and a handwritten notebook listing trafficked victims and extorted sums.
• Investigators mapped the ‘donkey route’ smuggling path from Brazil through multiple South and Central American countries to the United States.
• Preliminary findings linked the network to the trafficking of at least 12 youths between 2013 and 2022, with further raids underway to identify other operatives and victims.