Hyderabad: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case of human trafficking involving Bangladesh nationals busted by the Hyderabad police who last month arrested 14 people after conducting raids at two places at Khairatabad and Chaderghat in Hyderabad.
The task force teams caught 14 persons, including seven Bangladesh nationals and a minor. They also rescued two victims, both minor girls aged below 15 years.
The police alleged the accused were trafficking victims from Bangladesh via West Bengal to Hyderabad where they operated the prostitution racket.
Among the organizers, Ritoy Islam and Md Rony Khan, both Bangladesh nationals, and Jalil Sardar and Rajat Mandal from West Bengal, have a criminal past, the police claimed.
The gang with the help of local agents Kamarul Shaik and Azarul Shaik from West Bengal, along with their associates, was allegedly trafficking Bangladeshi women for prostitution in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and other cities.
“The gang identified girls from financially weak families through their agents in Bangladesh. They made them cross the border to temporary shelters in West Bengal, where they obtained Indian ID proofs and sent them to different places,” said a police official.
The gang charged up to Rs 20,000 for each ‘candidate’ to migrate from Bangladesh to India and provide ID proofs. They trafficked the victims by promising them jobs in garment stores, etc., in different parts of the country and shifted them accordingly.
Two separate cases were registered at Chaderghat and Khairatabad police stations. Both the cases were taken over by the National Investigation Agency.
The agency took the suspects into custody from the Central Prison Chanchalguda after the court accorded three-day police custody. The NIA got involved in the case after the international trafficking angle came up during an investigation.
| Edited by Veena Nair | 
