NIA arrests a shady US mercenary ‘VanDyke’ for working with Myanmar-based militants and training insurgent groups active in NE India border: What we know about him

On March 13, 2026, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested seven foreign people, six Ukrainians and one US citizen, in a major counter-terrorism operation. On March 16, a court in Delhi remanded them to NIA custody for 11 days. The group apparently entered India illegally through Mizoram’s protected border areas, then travelled to Myanmar to train with ethnic armed organisations linked to Indian insurgents in the northeast. They are also accused of carrying a huge consignment of drones from Europe, raising concerns about proxy conflict networks. This crackdown, which coincided with ongoing NIA investigations into terror financing and insurgency affiliations, sparked speculation on social media that the American individual was Matthew VanDyke, a name that has been associated with many conflicts and insurgent groups over the years. News videos that had the visuals of NIA officials loading the arrested foreigners into a jail van had one thin, long haired individual wearing a mask. Soon, the name Matthew VanDyke was all over social media. Is he Matthew VanDyke! A private mercenary, the one who joined Libiya rebels during Gaddafi regime in 2011??The left pic (masked) one is a foreigner arrested by NIA for providing training to Myammar terrorist. pic.twitter.com/OiW6C8KDDQ— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) March 17, 2026 Not just Libya. US mercenary Van Dyke was also involved in covert operations against Venezuela, allegedly funded by Colombian drug trafficking and USAID.How this bunch of foreigners slipped through Inner Line Permit checks in Mizoram and crossed over to Myanmar baffles me. https://t.co/OP9T6hadAA— Riccha Dwivedi (@RicchaDwivedi) March 17, 2026 VanDyke, the founder of Sons of Liberty International (SOLI) and an American documentary filmmaker who transformed into a self-proclaimed revolutionary fighter, personifying the blurred lines of warfare in this era. Today’s battles encompass non-state actors, private contractors, and ideological mercenaries in uncertain zones, going beyond state forces and defined borders. He has, as per his own posts, worked in the deadliest hotspots in the globe for more than ten years, including Syria and Libya, highlighting these interrelated proxy dynamics. Soon after the news of the arrest and remand, however, the speculations were confirmed. The US national arrested was reportedly Matthew VanDyke. Media reports named the Ukrainians as Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefanik Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor. RT INDIA EXCLUSIVE – NAMED: American & Ukrainian Nationals Arrested For Alleged 'Terror Training' In MyanmarThe American named, Matthew VanDyke, has appeared in at least two films – one about his activities in Libya, and another about his 'security' firm, Sons of Liberty… https://t.co/68tmeaRBtI pic.twitter.com/pf5v8mfK4z— RT_India (@RT_India_news) March 17, 2026 Who’s Matthew VanDyke? To understand the present rumours about VanDyke, one must first examine his unusual past. VanDyke, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1981, earned a master’s degree in Security Studies from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He set off on a multi-year motorcycle tour across the Middle East and North Africa with the initial goal of understanding the Arab world via the lens of a camera. But the 2011 Arab Spring drastically changed his course. When the Libyan Civil War broke out, VanDyke joined the rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi in addition to filming it. After fighting alongside rebel troops, he was taken prisoner by Gaddafi’s government and held in solitary confinement for almost six months before making his way back to the front lines. The ideological foundation for his subsequent pursuits was established by this significant shift from observer to active participant. VanDyke formed Sons of Liberty International in 2014 after his friends, American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, were executed by ISIS. Operating as a licensed 501(c)(3) non-profit, SOLI is essentially a private security contracting company with a humanitarian twist o itself. It claims to offer supplies, military training, and consulting services at no cost to “vulnerable populations” facing terrorist groups and authoritarian regimes. The Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU), an Assyrian Christian group battling ISIS, were trained by SOLI during its first deployments in Iraq. However, Eastern Europe has been the focus of SOLI’s largest and most significant mission to date. VanDyke and his group made a significant shift in favour of Kyiv after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and SOLI started actively training, advising, and supplying the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Their efforts quickly grew to encompass the creation of battlefield innovations, a thorough demining program to remove unexploded Russian munitions, and specialised frontline tactical instruction. According to reports, VanDyke personally joined the Ukrainian military to serve as a combat professional. From a small outfit training localised militias to a highly coordinated apparatus supporting a conventional European army against a global superpower, his organisation’s deep involvement in Ukraine showed a major evolution. It also shows another important aspect. SOLI is doing what the Western-NATO establishment, particularly the US military interests want to be done. Digital footprints of Matthew VanDyke The distinction between a popular figure and a covert agent is virtually nonexistent in the context of contemporary proxy warfare. Matthew VanDyke’s online presence, concentrated on his Twitter/X account (@Matt_VanDyke), functions as a digital diary of what security researchers refer to as ‘ transparency-based militancy.’ Unlike typical private military contractors, who operate in complete secrecy, VanDyke uses his platform to broadcast his missions, frequently in real time. VanDyke’s digital past is riddled with what one can consider confessional tweets where he defends violating international conventions or domestic laws in favour of what he thinks as a greater moral goal, but is often aligned with the current interests of NATO powers, especially the US military industrial complex. VanDyke has famously tweeted variations on his idea that as long as his squad is shooting in the right direction (against alleged dictatorships such as Russia or ISIS), the US government will look the other way. This particular style of bravado leads to assume he would attempt an unauthorised crossing into the Myanmar-India border zone. Since 2022, his feed has been filled with constant updates from Ukraine. However, by late 2025, observers noticed a shift in his rhetoric toward broadening the front against Russia’s allies. These close ties to Ukraine are what led to the recent, very contentious event on the Indian subcontinent. On March 13, seven foreign nationals, six Ukrainians and one American, were detained by India’s top counterterrorism agency, the NIA, on suspicion of entering India illegally in order to go through neighbouring Myanmar. Authorities claim that these people were using the Indian state of Mizoram’s porous borders to smuggle European drone technology and give advanced military and terrorist training to ethnic rebel groups in Myanmar, which are currently fighting the ruling military junta in a bloody civil war. The identity of the detainees have been kept under stringent operational secrecy by official authorities. However, profound speculation on social media has quickly filled the gap in official information. Rumours that the unidentified American is Matthew VanDyke, working with a group of Ukrainian veterans connected to his group, are rife on platforms like X (previously Twitter) and other open source intelligence (OSINT) forums. Online investigators cite VanDyke’s close logistical ties to the Ukrainian military, SOLI’s documented history of crossing borders to train anti-authoritarian rebels, and his recent public admissions of conducting covert operations in other international locations, including Venezuela. Strategic geopolitics It is very important to remember that this connection is still entirely speculative at this point. The names of the accused have not been made public by the NIA, and Opindia is unable to independently confirm the American’s identity. Nonetheless, the simple plausibility of the rumour, the fact that the OSINT world regards VanDyke’s involvement in Myanmar as totally in character, calls for a more in-depth investigation into why Ukrainian fighters would be operating in Southeast Asia at all. Why would Ukraine, a country engaged in a fierce battle against Russia for its own survival, want to train rebels in Myanmar?  It is notable here that the presence of Ukrainian and Ukraine war elements on the Myanmar-India border, especially for training insurgent groups in Myanmar, was raised as a concern by Mizoram CM Lalduhoma in March 2025 itself. The answer is found in a complicated web of global alliances and asymmetric proxy warfare strategies. The Myanmar military junta, commanded by Min Aung Hlaing, is one of Putin’s most steadfast and uncritical allies. Naypyidaw fully supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 after the military takeover in Myanmar in 2021 cut off the junta from the West. In exchange, Moscow has been the junta’s main source of support, providing the Myanmar Air Force with Mi-38 helicopters, Su-30 flanker fighter jets, and surveillance drones, all of which have been incredibly successful against insurgent rebel groups. For Ukraine, the conflict is no longer limited to the Donbass or Crimea, it is a global endeavour to drain Russian resources and undermine Russian allies wherever they are present. Reports have already surfaced of Ukrainian special forces fighting Russian backed Wagner mercenaries in Sudan and Syria. A move into Myanmar is an ideal fit for this global plan. Ukrainian operatives, or sympathetic American contractors deeply entwined with the Ukrainian cause, could severely interfere with a key Russian client state by providing tactical training and drone warfare expertise to Myanmar’s ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), forcing Moscow to invest more diplomatic and military capital far from the Donetsk battlefield. For foreign operatives, India’s vast geography and neutral status may have appeared to be an excellent transit route into Myanmar’s troubled frontiers. However, the NIA’s prompt arrest of the foreign nationals sends a clear and unambiguous message, India will not allow its sovereign territory to be used as a staging ground for foreign proxy conflicts, regardless of geopolitical motives. While New Delhi may remain neutral on the global arena, it is fiercely defensive of its own security apparatus. Conclusion The episode of an American mercenary figure associated with Ukrainian combat forces highlights a significant shift in modern conflict. We are witnessing the globalisation of the battlefield, with American privateers and Ukrainian veterans purportedly emerging in the jungles of Myanmar to fight a proxy war against Russian interests, only to be intercepted by Indian counter-terrorism forces. VanDyke’s career, which took him from the deserts of Libya to the plains of Nineveh and finally to the trenches of Ukraine, serves as the ultimate model of mercenary fighters for this new century. Update: The earlier version of this article has been modified slightly after the name of Matthew VanDyke was confirmed by media sources.