Several Rohingyas were carried in cargo containers to settle them illegally in Haryana, Rajasthan and eight other Indian states, it is learnt.
Posing as a big junk dealer, the kingpin of the illegal racket of settling Rohingyas in the country used cargo containers to transport the trafficked people to Rajasthan, Haryana and eight other states before arranging fake identity papers for the illegals, some investigators of the security agencies said.
Questioning of kingpin Saudi Zakir, who was arrested from Kerala, has revealed that he himself is a Rohingya who entered from Bangladesh’s Benapole border with the help of a human trafficking gang.
The kingpin told investigators that after illegally entering India he started a business of junk dealing in Bangalore and employed many other illegal Rohingya immigrants in his business establishment.
At the time of employing smuggled Rohingyas, Zakir got their fake identity papers prepared and this started his own journey as a human smuggler, specialising in bringing in Rohingyas from Bangladesh, said sources.
Once he jumped into the illegal racket, he started settling Rohingyas in states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Telangana, Karnataka, J&K, West Bengal, Assam, Puducherry, Tripura and Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, continuing with its crackdown on human traffickers at Indo-Bangladesh border, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) last week arrested four more accused involved in illegal infiltration into India via Tripura. The case was registered in October last year. On November 8, 2023, the NIA had arrested 29 key operatives following nationwide raids on human trafficking syndicates involved in the case.
As per NIA investigations, the accused arrested in Tripura matter were located close to the Indo-Bangladesh international border and were linked with the 29 persons arrested earlier in the case. They had been carrying out human trafficking activities at the behest of racketeers belonging to well organised syndicates active in several districts of the north-eastern state of Tripura. The network of syndicates was further connected to operatives based in other parts of India.
Investigations have further revealed that the four arrested accused were coordinating with traffickers operating from across the international border to facilitate illegal infiltration of persons of Bangladeshi origin into India.
The case was registered by the NIA on October 6, 2023, following credible inputs regarding organised human trafficking syndicates operating along the Indo-Bangladesh international border. The NIA had received information about individuals of foreign origin being trafficked illegally with the intention of settling them in various parts of India.
The linkages were identified as part of a larger network engaged in human trafficking activities via Indo-Bangladesh border. The accused were also arranging forged Indian identity documents for the individuals trafficked from across the border into India, NIA investigations have further revealed.
