Sri Lanka police arrest ex-soldiers over recruiting for Russian military

Sri Lanka has arrested two former army soldiers, including a general, for recruiting for the Russian military amid war with Ukraine, according to local media.

Police in the South Asian island nation busted a human trafficking racket that sent “Sri Lankan war veterans to fight as mercenaries in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” the Newswire website reported on Thursday.

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of Sri Lanka made the arrests of the suspects, aged 67 and 50, and the former army major general is said to be the mastermind of the racket.

The two are residents of Kurunegala, the capital of North Western Province.

This came a day after neighbouring India made four arrests in a similar case.

Mercenary groups members

Last month, the CID had made two arrests, including a former army major general, for their alleged involvement in a similar human trafficking case.

Sri Lanka’s Defense Ministry confirmed that several Sinhalese war veterans died or sustained injuries in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

They were recruited as members of mercenary groups.

Similar cases have been reported in India, as well as in Nepal, and many Nepalese nationals have died in the war.

Russia and Ukraine are in war since February 2022 during which tens of hundreds of people have been killed and injured.

Hundreds of thousands have been forced to migrate out of Ukraine.

People from many countries have joined rival armies in the war.