9 Bangladeshi nationals arrested in India

At least nine Bangladeshi nationals including the kingpin of a human trafficking gang have been arrested from India's Uttar Pradesh.

The kingpin Mahfuzur Rehman is involved in facilitating Bangladeshis and Rohingyas travel abroad by using forged documents showing them as Indian citizens, said a press release of the Indian Anti-Terrorist Squad yesterday, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

The other eight arrestees are Rinku Biswas, Ajit Das, Rajesh Biswas, Palash Biswas, Vijay Das, Golak Mandal, Manik Dutta and Govinda Das.

The arrestees were traveling by Sealdah-Delhi Rajdhani Express train to Delhi via Kanpur under fake names on Saturday and were set to travel to Dubai on the basis of forged documents, said the release.

During the interrogation, it was found that the gang leader took Rs 1 lakh in cash to provide documents of Indian citizenship under Indian (Hindu) names and send them abroad as Indian citizens.

Mahfuzur is from Munshiganj in Bangladesh and now resides in Kolkata, the release also said. He was involved in this line of work for the past three to four years and has ties with some Pakistanis, the release also said.

He illegally entered India in 2010 and got an Indian passport based on fake documents and went to Dubai in 2013.

On his return from there, Mahfuzur with the help of his associates assisted Bangladeshi nationals cross into India illegally and prepared forged documents like Aadhar cards, PAN cards, passports and other identity cards for sending them abroad, added the ATS release.