Maharashtra ATS busts human trafficking racket, arrests four people

Representation pic

The Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra on Monday busted a human trafficking racket by arresting four persons in which Bangladeshi nationals were brought to India through the India-Bangladesh border.

According to the ATS, the modus operandi was to bring Bangladeshi nationals to India by crossing the border on foot either by cutting border-fence or by walking in through the open border to immediately obtain Aadhar Cards in their names from a UIDAI Centre in Bangaon, North 24 Parganas in West Bengal on the basis of forged Indian documents and send them to various cities in India including Mumbai armed with fraudulently obtained Aadhar Cards.

On reaching various cities, these illegal immigrants obtained other forged Indian documents like birth certificates and school leaving certificates, using which they further obtained IndianPassports. ATS has so far arrested three Bangladeshi nationals, including a minor girl of 17 years. Out of these three, the accused Kajal Shaikh (28) had succeeded in getting an Indian Passport onthe basis of forged Indian documents, whereas the other two were in the process of obtainingthe same.

ATS said a local person in Mumbai named Santosh Varne (52), the fourth arrested accusedin the case helped them in getting Indian passports. He supplied forged BMC documents like birth certificates and school leaving certificates to the accused and helped them get Indian passports.

ATS seized a booklet of around 100 blank school leaving certificates that are generic and do not mention any school name. As per the modus operandi of the racket, the name of the school used to be stamped on the certificates after filling in the details of the illegal immigrants. These blank school leaving certificates are in old format when the name of Mumbai was Bombay. This was done to make the verification difficult, said the ATS statement.

According to ATS, One Sardar Shaikh alias Monjil Mondal, a resident of Sindhrani village in thejurisdiction of Bagdah Police Station, Bangaon, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, is thethe kingpin of this human trafficking racket, who brought to India the three arrested accusedand other Bangladeshi nationals by crossing the border.

Shaikh is a criminal on record of Bagdah Police Station, West Bengal. He has had four cases registered against him in the recent past, including three under section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and relevant sections of IPC and other laws, wherein he has been accused of cutting border fence and committing human trafficking across the border.

He is the prime accused in the case and efforts are on to arrest him. An ATS team visited West Bengal and gathered evidence in the case with cooperation from West Bengal Police. Further investigation into the case is in progress.