Five people, including a Rohingya man, have been arrested in connection with a case of alleged human trafficking in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, police said. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Bandipora, Lakshay Sharma on November 28 said that the accused trafficked Rohingya women via Bangladesh and got them “married” to locals in the Union Territory “in exchange for money.”
“Five people have been arrested in connection with human trafficking. One Rohingya, namely Manzoor Alam, is among the arrested. The accused trafficked Rohingya women via Bangladesh and got them married to locals in the Union Territory in exchange for money,” SSP Sharma added.
“He is the kingpin of the entire racket,” SSP Sharma said.
The police official said that that they have taken cognisance of the matter and a first information report has been registered.
“In the said case, two Rohingya women were found to be married and legal action as per law has been initiated,” SSP Sharma said. “This is a crime on two counts. First is the illegal infiltration of Rohingya women from Bangladeshi refugee camps into India and second is their sale as brides, which is human trafficking,” he said.
The senior policeman said that on November 23, information was received by a local police station in Bandipora regarding the illegal trafficking of Rohingya women and subsequently selling them to various people in the area in lieu of money and marrying them.
“Further investigation will continue,” SSP Sharma added.
Earlier in the month, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted a comprehensive operation at 55 locations across 10 states and Union Territories (UTs) and apprehended 44 operatives in four human trafficking cases.
NIA investigations in the case revealed that different modules of this illegal human trafficking network were spread over various states, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and operating from there.
(with inputs from ANI)
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