GUWAHATI
The detention of five Bangladeshi nationals, including a minor, in Meghalaya’s Nongpoh town on February 14, has led to the uncovering of a Mumbai-based human trafficking network.
Apart from facilitating the illegal entry of Bangladeshi nationals, members of the network were also into forging documents, including Aadhaar and Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards, and banking fraud, police officials in Meghalaya’s Ri-Bhoi district said.
The officials said the five were on their way back to Bangladesh when they were caught at a checkpoint in Nongpoh, headquarters of the Ri-Bhoi district, located almost midway between Guwahati and Shillong. They were among more than 20 Bangladeshi nationals caught in the district in the past few months.
Interrogations revealed some of them had travelled to Mumbai to obtain forged Indian documents, including Aadhaar and PAN, through one Shaikh Mohammed Mujib based in Mumbai’s Sewri area. Mujib allegedly arranged forged documents using fake address proofs and engaged middlemen to move people illegally across the India-Bangladesh border through strategic points in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and West Bengal.
Further investigation led to the arrest of Nusrat A. Kazi and Jabir Yunus Shaikh, who used the fake Indian identities of Bangladeshi nationals to open bank accounts for loan fraud and cybercrimes, the police said. The two were arrested in Kopar Khairane and Ulwe in Navi Mumbai, while Mujib was caught in southern Mumbai’s Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg.
“Our team coordinated with the Mumbai police to unearth the criminal network in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai,” Ri-Bhoi’s Senior Superintendent of Police, Vivekanand Singh Rathore, told The Hindu on Monday.
He said a Special Investigation Team led by Assistant Superintendent of Police Ashu Pant carried out week-long raids in Navi Mumbai with critical support from Navi Mumbai Commissioner of Police Milind Bharambe. “It was a culmination of a series of cases involving Bangladeshi nationals caught after entering India and while trying to go back. They happened to be caught in our territory, but are beneficiaries of a huge network that facilitates their entry from different points along the India-Bangladesh border at different times,” Mr. Rathore said.
The police said the Maharashtra-based criminals could be a part of a well-oiled network operating across India, specifically the more industrialised western part of the country.
Police said efforts were on to send the arrested Bangladeshi nationals back to their country after the completion of necessary formalities.
