In India, Ukrainian citizens were arrested on suspicion of training terrorists

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) has detained six Ukrainian citizens and one American on suspicion of training terrorists for operations in Myanmar.

This was reported by The Indian Express.

On Friday evening, March 13, a criminal case was registered against them. All of them are accused of conspiracy aimed at carrying out terrorist activity against India.

The U.S. citizen was detained by Immigration Bureau officers at Kolkata airport, and the Ukrainians were detained at Lucknow and Delhi airports (three at each).

“From there they crossed into Myanmar, where they reportedly met ethnic groups hostile to India. Investigations also revealed that they brought multiple consignments of drones from Europe to Mizoram (an Indian state bordering Myanmar),” a source told the outlet.

According to the NIA, the accused were involved in the illegal “import of huge consignments of drones from Europe into Myanmar via India” for use by “ethnic armed groups.” The latter, allegedly, also supported certain “banned Indian insurgent groups” by supplying weapons and “other terrorist equipment” and training them.

In addition, the agency intends to arrest “close unknown accomplices” who are still at large and will likely be identified after “technical analysis of social media accounts.”

In Myanmar, active fighting between the country’s armed forces and ethnic groups resumed on October 27, 2023. The situation has directly affected India: a flow of refugees and deserters from the Myanmar army has poured across the shared border in Mizoram and other northeastern regions. In 2024, about 600 Myanmar soldiers crossed into India after fierce clashes with rebels. At the time, Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma said he was helping those who fled Myanmar on humanitarian grounds.

Destabilization in Myanmar became one of the reasons for the internal crisis in India’s state of Manipur: ethnic violence and the influx of people across the border were used by the opposition as an argument for a no-confidence vote against Narendra Modi’s government, although parliament did not support it.