American mercenary Matthew VanDyke, 6 Ukrainians arrested in India

18-Mar-2026

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a US national, Matthew Aaron VanDyke, along with six Ukrainian citizens, in an operation straight out of a film scene. The arrests were carried out across three airports — Kolkata, where VanDyke was apprehended, and Lucknow and Delhi, where three Ukrainian nationals were arrested at each location.

The Ukrainian nationals were identified as: Petro Hurba, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk, and Viktor Kaminskyi. The arrests occurred on March 13.

It is alleged by the NIA that the seven foreigners contacted ethnic armed groups (EAGs), and engaged in training activities. These EAGs, the NIA said in its FIR, were linked to insurgent organisations in the Northeast.

The NIA has alleged that the group planned to supply weapons, train militants, and utilise drones imported from Europe to support training camps in Myanmar, focussing on drone warfare, operations, assembly, and jamming technology.