Indo-Bangladesh Border: NIA files charge sheets against 8 more in human trafficking case

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: In a move aimed at tightening the noose around the human trafficking syndicates operating across India, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed charge sheets against eight more accused in a case relating to the trafficking of Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas through the Indo-Bangladesh border. The human trafficking was part of a transnational racket and involved scores of people.

The investigating agency, in its supplementary charge sheet filed today, named four of the eight accused operating from the state of Tripura in the Northeast as Jalil Miah, Hanan Miah, Adhir Das, Anwar Hussain (alias Mama), and an absconder identified as Kajal Sarkar. Others against whom charge sheets were filed have been identified as the absconding Kamal Das, brother of accused Amol Chandra Das, also named in the charge sheet. He was said to be operating from Silchar. West Bengal-based Liton Chakraborty is the seventh accused named in the charge sheet. The eighth accused named in the charge sheet is Bangladeshi national Rabiyl Hasan (alias Rabiul Hassan).

According to NIA sources, West Bengal-based Liton Chakraborty was engaged in preparing Indian identity documents for the Bangladeshi nationals based on fake or forged supporting documents and certificates garnered through clandestine means. Bangladeshi national Rabiyl Hasan was discovered to be well connected with the arrested accused, based in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.

The NIA had earlier filed a charge sheet against 24 Bangladeshi nationals under the IPC, Foreigners Act, and Passport (Entry into India) Act.

NIA is continuing its investigations in the search for the absconders and other suspects in the case (RC-01/2023/NIA-GUW) filed in Guwahati. The case has exposed a massive network of transnational human trafficking operated by various facilitators, touts, and traffickers in Assam, Tripura, West Bengal, and Bangladesh. The probe has revealed a strong nexus between all the operatives in the racket.

Investigations by the agency, which registered the case in October 2023, revealed that the trafficked individuals were being forced into hard labour on low wages and exploited under threat of arrest by the police. The case was originally registered by the Assam Special Task Force (STF) in September 2023 before being transferred to the NIA.

 Also Read: Human trafficking suspect wanted by National Investigation Agency arrested in Tripura (sentinelassam.com)

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