Cops bust international human trafficking racket, 5 arrested

Sleuths of IGIA cops busted an international human trafficking racket which provided forged Indian passports to Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi nationals along with Saudi Arabian visas to travel to Middle Eastern countries. Five operatives including two kingpins have been arrested, police said.

According to the police, the accused persons have been identified as Shaukat Ali, Suleman, Saddam Hussain, Mohd Ibne Sultan and Amit Bodh Jha. They were involved in trafficking Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi nationals to Saudi Arabia after procuring Indian passports and visas for the last two years. “The kingpin, Shaukat Ali was running a mosquito net factory as a front in Sarai Kale Khan since 2008. A native of Borishal district in Bangladesh, Ali was also a Rohingya Muslim who started living in Delhi ten years back. He used to head the Delhi unit and coordinate with units operating in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangladesh. He used to get all the details of these Bangladeshi nationals from operators in Bangladesh. They would then make fake Indian passports on which visas of Saudi Arabia were stamped. He then sent these documents to Hafiz Sheikh, a Kolkata based handler,” said Sundari Nanda, Special Commissioner of Police (Operations).

According to the police, Shaukat Ali roped in his nephew Suleman who used to collect forged passports and money through Hawala operators. Saddam then collected these passports from Shaukat and handed them over to Ibne to get Saudi Arabian visas stamped on them.