Police volunteer nabbed at border on trafficking charges

Kolkata: A civic police volunteer (CPV) from Swarupnagar police station in North 24-Parganas was nabbed by the

Border

Security Force (BSF) close to the Indo-Bangladesh border on Thursday while attempting to bring a Bangladeshi woman into India illegally. Pradip Biswas (31) had received Rs 26,000 from the woman’s in-laws to help her get across. An FIR has been lodged at Swarupnagar police station against Biswas and he has been charged with human trafficking. BSF officials suspect that he has been involved in this racket in the past as well, using his contacts in the police to avoid detection.

“On Thursday, troops of the 112 Bn BSF, posted at BOP Tarali, stopped a couple on a motorcycle moving inward from the border. Tarali is a zero-line village where criminal activity and smuggling is rampant. On questioning the couple, they first claimed they were husband and wife. When women constables sought an identity document from the woman spotted Bangladeshi currency in her purse, Biswas, who had till then maintained that he was a CPV, made a dash for it. He was soon nabbed by our troops and taken back to the BOP for interrogation,” a senior officer of the BSF (South Bengal Frontier) said.

On interrogation, the woman admitted that she is a Bangladeshi married to an Indian. She claimed that her husband lives in Arjunpur Dumdum. A few days ago, her mother-in-law apparently went to the Swarupnagar police station for help to smuggle her into India. It was there that she met Biswas who took Rs 26,000 for his help. After failing to cross over near Hakimpur, the woman reached Tarali where a tout helped her cross into India. Biswas was in charge and started back towards Swarupnagar with her on his motorcycle.

“We shall be corroborating whatever the woman has said. All agencies have been informed. Crimes such as these pose a major security threat for the nation. We still don’t know anything about the woman’s antecedents or her true motive to cross into India. We are also doubting her statement that her mother-in-law paid so much money to bring her to India,” the BSF official said. A senior police official in North 24-Parganas said that all assistance will be provided to the BSF and appropriate action taken against Biswas.


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