NIA chargesheets 2 B’deshis for human trafficking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE NIA on Saturday chargesheeted two Bangladeshi nationals for allegedly crossing into India illegally 10 years ago and pushing people from their country into forced labour through an organised racket. The probe of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the case has revealed that the accused -- Muhammed Sahajalal Haldar and Muhammed Idris alias Erdish Khan -- had crossed into India through Benapole on the India-Bangladesh border and had initially worked as waste segregators, according to a statement.

 

Benapole is a town in Bangladesh’s Jessore district. Later, they first rented land at Seegehalli and then at Margondanahalli in Karnataka, and started their own waste segregation units by constructing godowns and temporary sheds, the NIA said in its statement. They used to employ trafficked Bangladeshi nationals and force them into hard labour on meagre wages under the threat of arrest by the Indian police, it said. As part of an elaborate human trafficking network, Bangladeshi nationals were brought to India through the India-Bangladesh border on the pretext of secure jobs with valid Indian identity documents, according to the findings of the probe.

 

“Further strengthening its case against the human trafficking network, the NIA on Saturday charge-sheeted two men for illegally crossing into India 10 years ago and pushing Bangladeshi nationals into forced labour,” the statement said. The chargesheet was filed in a special NIA court in Bengaluru against Haldar and Khan, who were arrested in February with the help of the Internal Security Division of Karnataka, after being on the run for months, it said.