NIA court hands eight-year sentence to nine in trafficking racket

Lucknow: A special NIA court in Lucknow on Thursday sentenced nine persons to eight years jail for trafficking of Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals, forgery of Indian identity documents, and organised criminal conspiracy.The judgment was delivered by special judge, NIA court, Jainendra Kumar Pandey.Those convicted are Bangladesh national Mohammad Noor alias Nurul Islam; Myanmar natives Rahmat Ullah, Mohammed Hussain, Shabiur Rahman alias Shabi Ullah; and Ismail, Abdul Shakoor alias Abdul Gani, Aale Miya, Mohammad Rafiq alias Rafiq-ul-Islam, and Bappan alias Arshad Miyan.They have been convicted under IPC sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged documents), 370 (human trafficking), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and Foreigners Act, 1946 sections 14 and 14C.Special public prosecutor NIA, MK Singh, told TOI that UP ATS, had arrested the accused who were part of an international syndicate operating along the India-Bangladesh border, particularly through Tripura.“The gang trafficked Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals into India. Women were trafficked for forced marriages while men and children were pushed into labour exploitation,” said Singh.The case originated from intelligence inputs received by ATS in July 2021. Surveillance of prime accused Mohammad Noor’s mobile phone revealed that he was transporting trafficked individuals to Delhi via the Brahmaputra Mail train.On July 26, 2021, an ATS team apprehended Noor at Ghaziabad railway station along with 4 trafficked victims from Myanmar.Further arrests were made in Delhi, Noida and other locations. One Rahmat Ullah, who had arrived to receive the trafficked individuals, was among those held.Singh said the prosecution examined eight witnesses, including ATS officers, victims and telecom nodal officers.Key evidence included call detail records, recovery of mobile phones, SIM cards, forged documents, UNHCR cards and railway tickets. Victims also testified that they were trafficked from refugee camps in Bangladesh.During the trial, all accused confessed to their involvement and sought leniency. The court termed the offences as serious and said organised crimes like these were affecting national security and human dignity.GFX:MODUS OPERANDIThe accused charged money (around ₹20,000 per person) for illegal border crossingsVictims were brought via Bangladesh into India without valid documentsFake Indian identity documents such as Aadhaar, PAN cards, and voter IDs were created using forged detailsVictims were then “sold” to agents across Delhi-NCR and other states