Uttar Pradesh ATS arrests Bangladeshi, Myanmar residents trafficking Rohingya women

: The anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh (UP) on Tuesday arrested a Bangladeshi national and two persons from Myanmar, who they claimed were involved in trafficking of women and children from their countries into India

: The anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh (UP) on Tuesday arrested a Bangladeshi national and two persons from Myanmar, who they claimed were involved in trafficking of women and children from their countries into India.

HT Image

The arrests were made from the Delhi-bound Brahmputra train at Ghaziabad and two women from Myanmar whom the accused intended to take to Delhi were also rescued, top police officials said.

Additional director general of police (law and order) Prashant Kumar said, “The accused were intercepted while they were travelling in a train to Delhi. They had planned to take the two women to Delhi but were detained at Ghaziabad railway station. They have confessed their involvement in human trafficking and have been arrested.”

Kumar said for their arrest, over 30 officers of the state Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) launched an operation for over 36 hours.

The accused were identified as Noor Muhammad, a native of Bangladesh who was presently living in Tripura along with Rehmatullah, a native of Myanmar who was residing in Jammu. Shabi-ur-Rehman alias Shabiullah, the third accused, is also a native of Myanmar, Kumar said.

The two teenaged women from Myanmar who were rescued from the accused were handed over to shelter home in Lucknow that functions under state women and child commission.

ATS officials said the women would also be interrogated. ATS officials claimed that the accused trafficked Rohingya men, women and children into the country and settled them in the national capital region (NCR). The accused charged money from Rohingyas and harassed them, officials said.

“The accused smuggled Rohingyas into the country through Indo-Bangladesh or Indo Myanmar border in Tripura. We gathered that in some cases they even sold these Rohingyas to other gangs involved in illegal activities in India,” the officer said.

ATS has lodged an FIR under various sections of IPC including fraud, forgery and criminal conspiracy against the accused and has applied for their custody remand.

(with agency inputs)