New Delhi, 4 Feb: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet against three Myanmar nationals in a case involving the unlawful infiltration and trafficking of foreign persons, predominantly of Rohingya descent, into India via the India-Bangladesh border, an official said on Sunday.
The accused are Rabi Islam alias “Rabiul Islam”, Shafi Alam alias “Sofi Alom” alias “Sayedul Islam”, and Mohammad Usman, all permanent residents of Myanmar’s Maungdaw area, according to a federal agency official.
According to the NIA, they entered India unlawfully, in conjunction with traffickers and touts, without valid travel documents, and assisted in the entry of countless other foreign persons via unauthorized and illegal border ways.
They were part of a well-organized network of traffickers and touts engaging in numerous illicit operations, including enticing vulnerable Rohingya women who had taken asylum in Bangladesh into India with false promises of marriage to Rohingya males, according to an official.
According to the NIA, such women were sold into forced marriages in several Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, and Haryana.
The NIA’s inquiry revealed instances and evidence of document falsification, concluding that Rabi Islam and Mohammad Usman received Aadhaar cards fraudulently. The couple also used these IDs to obtain various SIM cards and create bank accounts, obscuring their genuine identities, according to the spokeswoman.
With this charge sheet, the official stated that the NIA, which began investigating the case on November 7 of last year, has made a critical step in uncovering and dismantling a massive international human trafficking network.
