New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested half a dozen Ukrainians and an American national for allegedly plotting terror activities.
The seven foreign suspects, arrested across three airports under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), are currently in the investigating agency’s custody and have been remanded to the authorities till March 27.
The Ukrainian nationals have been identified as Petro Hurba, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk, and Viktor Kaminskyi. The US national has been identified as Matthew Aaron VanDyke.
As per NDTV, VanDyke is a self-described security analyst, war correspondent, and documentary filmmaker. He first garnered attention during the Libyan Civil War in 2011. At the time, VanDyke joined rebel fighters in Libya and was imprisoned.
It is alleged that the group travelled to India's Mizoram without the Restricted Area Permit (RAP). They then illegally crossed into Myanmar, reported news agency ANI.
NIA claimed that the seven foreigners contacted ethnic armed groups (EAGs), and engaged in training activities. These EAGs, the NIA said in its FIR, were linked to insurgent organizations in the Northeast.
It further alleged that the group planned to supply weapons, train militants, and utilize drones imported from Europe to support training camps in Myanmar, focussing on drone warfare, operations, assembly, and jamming technology.
