Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday chargesheeted 12 Bangladeshi nationals in human trafficking case, involving infiltration and trafficking of foreign nationals into India through the Indio-Bangladesh border.
The accused have been identified as MD Ferdous Bapari,Muhammed Oli Ullah,Amol Das,Masud Sarder, MD Sohag Gazi,Suman Shaik,SK.Md.Bellal,Md Mirazul Islam,Zakir Khan,Md Badal Houladar,Md.Kabir Talukder, Gharami Mohamad Bashir Hosen,Saudi Zakir.
They had also entered India illegally,without valid travel documents,and had fraudulently obtained Indian identity documents.
The accused were trafficked through porous Indo-Bangla border points in Benapole and Jashore near West Bengal, and Akhaura near Tripura,with the help of touts operating on both sides of the border,NIA investigations have revealed.
Further investigations revealed that eight among them had subsequently been involved in trafficking of several other Bangladeshi nationals in a similar manner.
A total of 22 such victims of the accused have been identified so far by NIA which has further found that the victims were lured into India on false promises of jobs and a better livelihood.
The victims had paid the touts along the border for crossing into India and were directed to reach Bengaluru.
Once they landed in the trafficker’s waste segregation godowns in the southern city, they were subjected to forced labour for meagre wages and were confined in various sheds built specially for the purpose.
Those who protested were threatened by the traffickers to get them arrested on the charges of illegal migrants.
NIA searches earlier of the premises of the 12 chargesheeted men, as well two absconding accused Mohammed Sahajlal Haldar and Idrish,had led to the seizure of 61Aadhar cards along with other Indian identity documents obtained fraudulently.
Investigations to uncover the modus operandi for procuring Indian identity documents are continuing. The hunt for the absconding accused is also in progress.
