Six Ukrainian nationals accused of providing drone warfare training to armed groups in Myanmar were freed on bail in India after the country’s counterterrorism agency failed to file terror charges within the mandatory 180 days of their arrest.
The immigration charges against the Ukrainians – Viktor Kaminskyi, Petro Hurba, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, and Maksim Honcharuk – were also settled before the Foreigners Regional Registration Office. However, they will have to remain in Delhi while the investigation is ongoing.
The six, arrested by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) in March along with American national Matthew Aaron VanDyke, had allegedly trained members of Myanmar-based ethnic armed groups, including the Chin National Front and Kachin Independence Army, in drone warfare, operations, assembly, and jamming technology.
However, the agency’s initial chargesheet filed on September 8 accused the seven foreigners of only relatively mild illegal entry and visa violations under the Immigration and Foreigners Act – and no charge was brought under India’s primary anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The same Delhi court had last week given bail to VanDyke for the same reasons.
The NIA says anti-terror charges could still be added against them if further evidence emerges. The agency says it has established links between the accused and Myanmar-based armed groups; no conclusive evidence has so far emerged that they acted against India or trained Indian insurgent organizations.
The seven were described as “mercenaries” and were alleged to have participated in combat operations and in a drone attack on a Burmese passenger plane. UAVs and related equipment detained by Indian customs authorities were later seized during the probe.
Indian investigators arrested them after alleging they had entered the country on tourist visas, traveled through the northeastern state of Mizoram without mandatory permits, and crossed into neighboring Myanmar illegally.