(COLOMBO) – The defence authorities in Sri Lanka has launched a massive operation to arrest those behind a recruitment drive of former soldiers as mercenaries for both sides of the Russian-Ukraine war.
Defence Secretary, General (Rtd) Kamal Gunaratne said that the operation was initiated jointly with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and other State Intelligence Units.
He said that rogue foreign employment agencies engaged in human trafficking have recruited an undisclosed number of former Sri Lankan soldiers with false promises of bloated perks and even citizenship for their families.
In addition to that they also offer the mercenaries with prime land blocks in Russia while maintaining that the recruits will be based only inside military installations and will not be exposed on the battle field, Gunaratne said.
The agents also demand a fee of some Rs. one million from each recruit, Gunaratne added.
Investigations have so far revealed that those who have been recruited have not received any of the promised perks while some of them have been killed and wounded in the ongoing war, Gunaratne said.
“The whereabouts of those who have left the country to either Ukraine or Russia remains unknown and many are feared dead or injured”, he said.
“We are diligently working to identify these individuals, as they have joined the war not as legitimate soldiers but recruited as mercenaries”, he stressed.
Several persons involved in the recruitment scam have already been arrested and are currently in remand prison.
Investigators also believe that most of those recruited are sent to Ukraine and Russia from a third country such as the United Arab Emirates.
