GUWAHATI: In a coordinated operation between the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Assam Police, 30 individuals involved in human trafficking from Myanmar and Bangladesh were apprehended from Assam and Tripura.
The Special Task Force, along with the police forces of the respective states, conducted simultaneous raids to apprehend these touts, informed Assam Police officials on Wednesday.
Harmeet Singh, Special DGP of Assam Police, announced the successful arrests and highlighted the distribution of detainees across different states of the country.
“Twenty-five touts were detained in Tripura, five in Assam, three in West Bengal, nine in Karnataka, three in Tamil Nadu, and one each in Haryana and Telangana,” he was quoted by a national news agency.
This operation was the culmination of a months-long investigation that began in February 2023 when illegal Rohingyas were discovered on a train from Tripura at Karimganj Railway Station in Assam.
ALSO READ RPF rescues 623 children since January in Northeast Frontier Railway zone
Subsequent inquiries unveiled a consistent pattern of illegal migrants, Rohingyas, and Bangladeshis entering India through the Indo-Bangla border.
Assam Police subsequently intensified their surveillance and was successful in turning back 450 illegal migrants with the help of border guarding forces.
It was discovered during questioning that touts played a pivotal role in facilitating this infiltration, operating not only along the India-Bangladesh border but also in various parts of the country.
In response, the Special Task Force of Assam Police initiated an operation in July to target the network of middlemen involved.
The investigation also revealed that this tout network was a matter of national security concern with ramifications across state borders.
Consequently, the Assam government requested the NIA’s involvement and transfer of one of the cases due to the state serving as a conduit for this illicit activity.
The NIA, in collaboration with Assam Police, conducted extensive planning and launched a comprehensive operation leading to the arrests, dismantling a significant part of the infiltration network.
