UP ATS nab key member of trafficking racket from Hyderabad

The UP Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) on Thursday arrested another key member of the racket claimed to be involved in trafficking Rohingya women and children from their countries into India, said police officials on Friday. The accused Mohd Ismail, of Myanmar, was arrested from Hyderabad and being brought to Lucknow on transit remand for interrogation, said Prashant Kumar, ADG, law and order, UP Police.

Ismail’s name surfaced during the interrogation of three accused, including a Bangladeshi national Noor Mohammed and two others – Rehmatullah and Shabi-ur-rehman from Myanmar, who were arrested from the Delhi-bound Brahmputra train at Ghaziabad on July 27.

The police had also rescued two women, aged 16 and 18, from Myanmar, whom the accused intended to take to Delhi, he said.

Another police official said Mohd Ismail was the main person who arranged illegal stay of women trafficked from Bangladesh-based refugee camps and later sold them to different gangs for prostitution. He said crucial details about this international trafficking racket were extracted from Ismail. “Some of the women are also suspected to be sent to countries like Malaysia for flesh trade,” he added. The official said these gangs brought Rohingyas into the country through the Indo-bangladesh or Indo-myanmar border in Tripura. The UP ATS lodged an FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the arrested people and applied for their custody remand.