About 30,000 yet to return from S-E Asia, Punjab tops list

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Last Updated01/10/2024

While 29,466 of the 73,138 Indians who travelled to Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam on visitor visas from January 2022 to May 2024 are yet to return

From January 2022 to May 2024, 29,466 out of the 73,138 Indians who traveled to Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam on visitor visas have yet to return.
Among them, over half (17,115) are aged between 20-39 years, and 21,182 are males. Additionally, more than one-third of these individuals come from Punjab (3,667), Maharashtra (3,233), and Tamil Nadu (3,124), with Thailand accounting for 69% of the unreturned travelers (20,450).

The data was compiled by the Bureau of Immigration under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) amid concerns of Indians being trapped in “cyber slavery” in Southeast Asia.
Reports suggest that some Indians were lured with fake job offers and forced into cyber fraud schemes, where they were coerced into running scams targeting cryptocurrency and investment fraud victims.

A high-level inter-ministerial panel set up by the Indian government in May 2024 is overseeing efforts to address the issue.
The panel has directed states and union territories to conduct ground-level verification of these unreturned individuals. At a recent meeting, the Bureau of Immigration shared detailed data with various agencies, including the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Financial Intelligence Unit, and security experts.

Of the 29,466 unreturned travelers:
21,182 are males.
Age distribution:
- 8,777 are aged 20-29 years.
- 8,338 are aged 30-39 years.
- Other age groups include minors and elderly travelers.
The state-wise data highlights that besides Punjab, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu, significant numbers are from Uttar Pradesh (2,946), Kerala (2,659), Delhi (2,140), and Gujarat (2,068).

Major districts include Mumbai Suburban (1,017), Gorakhpur (784), Bengaluru Urban (700), and Ludhiana (561). The travelers departed from major airports, with the highest numbers from Delhi (12,493), Mumbai (4,699), and Kolkata (2,395).

The increase in cyber crimes originating from Southeast Asia has raised alarms, with around 45% of such crimes targeting Indians. A report by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) highlighted that since January 2023, approximately 1 lakh cyber complaints have been registered, many linked to Southeast Asian operations.