NIA charges 8 for smuggling Rohingya Muslims, Bangladeshi nationals to India

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), on Monday, July 24, 2024, charged eight persons suspected of being part of a transnational syndicate trafficking Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi nationals to India using fake documents .

The agency has named Jalil Miah, Hanan Miah, fugitive Kajal Sarkar, Adhir Das and Anwar Hussain alias Mama – all operating from Tripura – in its supplementary charge sheet filed before a special court in Guwahati, according to an official statement.

“Other accused persons have been identified as fugitive Kamal Das, brother of accused Amol Chandra Das, who was operating from Silchar, besides West Bengal-based Liton Chakraborty,” he said.

The eighth accused is Bangladeshi national Rabiyl Hasan, alias Rabiul Hassan.

False documents

According to NIA investigations, Mr. Chakraborty was engaged in preparing Indian identity documents for Bangladesh nationals on fake or falsified documents, the statement said.

Mr. Hasan was found to have good relations with the accused in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, it added.

According to the investigation conducted by the NIA, which registered a case in this regard in October 2023, the trafficked persons were forced into forced labor for low wages and exploited under threat of arrest.

The NIA had earlier filed a case against 24 Bangladeshi nationals.

Investigations by the NIA, which continues its search for the fugitives and other suspects, have revealed a vast transnational human trafficking network operated by various facilitators, touts and traffickers in Assam, Tripura, West Bengal and Bangladesh.