Nine Bangladeshis arrested by ATS

LUCKNOW: With the arrest of nine people, including the mastermind, Uttar Pradesh AntiTerrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday busted a human trafficking racket, involved in trafficking Bangladeshis into India before sending them abroad on fake Indian passports, ATS officials said. The Bangladeshi nationals were detained by ATS officials in Kanpur on Sunday afternoon and arrested on Monday after questioning, they said.

According to a press statement issued by the ATS, a team of ATS arrested eight Bangladeshi men, who had entered into India illegally and intended to move abroad.

The ATS officials also arrested the mastermind of the racket, also a Bangladeshi national, from West Bengal. “The investigation into the case began after intelligence sources revealed that the gang involved in human trafficking is making fake Indian documents.”

The Bangladeshi nationals were identified as Asidul Islam, Hussain Mohammad, Alamein Ahmed, Jaibul Islam, Jameel Ahmed, Rajeev Hussain, Shekhawat Khan and Aladdin Tariq. The accused, in their twenties, were kept in an abandoned Madarsa in West Bengal where they were trained to speak and sign in Hindi. They were also given fake Indian IDs with Hindu names. According to ATS officials, the arrested people told that they were trafficked into India by Mahfuzur Rehman and provided them with fake documents. “The ATS arrested Mahfazur Rehman, 34, from a Madarsa in 24 Pargana Kolkata on Monday. Rehman is also a Bangladeshi national and is being brought to Lucknow on transit remand,” they said.