Uttar Pradesh: Human trafficking racket busted; 9 Bangladeshis arrested by UP ATS
The Bangladeshi nationals were detained by ATS officials in Kanpur on Sunday afternoon and arrested on Monday after questioning
Lucknow: With the arrest of nine people, including the mastermind, Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday busted a human trafficking racket, involved in trafficking Bangladeshis into India before sending them abroad on fake Indian passports, ATS officials said.
The Bangladeshi nationals were detained by ATS officials in Kanpur on Sunday afternoon and arrested on Monday after questioning, they said.
According to a press statement issued by the ATS, a team of ATS arrested eight Bangladeshi men, who had entered into India illegally and were intended to move abroad from a Delhi bound train from Kanpur. The ATS officials also arrested the mastermind of the racket, also a Bangladeshi national, from West Bengal.
“The investigation into the case began after intelligence sources revealed that the gang involved in human trafficking is making fake Indian documents. Working on the Intel inputs, the ATS officials tracked down eight Bangladeshi nationals who entered into the country illegally and arrested them.”
The Bangladeshi nationals were identified as Asidul Islam, Hussain Mohammad, Alamein Ahmed, Jaibul Islam, Jameel Ahmed, Rajeev Hussain, Shekhawat Khan and Aladdin Tariq. The accused, in their twenties, were kept in an abandoned Madarsa in West Bengal where they were trained to speak and sign in Hindi. They were also given fake Indian IDs with Hindu name before being taken to Delhi via train.
According to ATS officials, the arrested people told STF officials that they were trafficked into India by Mahfuzur Rehman, who took ₹1 lakh each from them. Rehman provided them with fake documents and promised to send them to Dubai for work.
“Acting on the information provided by the Bangladeshi nationals, the ATS arrested Mahfazur Rehman, 34, from a Madarsa in 24 Pargana Kolkata on Monday. Rehman is also a Bangladeshi national who was found to be living on fake ID. He is being brought to Lucknow on transit remand,” they said.
The ATS has lodged an FIR of fraud and criminal conspiracy against all the nine accused and started investigation.
“Investigation is being done to identify other people linked to the racket and active in the country. Further arrest will be based on the investigation into the matter,” reads the press statement.