On preliminary investigation, the arrested Rohingyas revealed they were residing at Camp No. 5 near Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. They illegally crossed the India- Bangladesh Border and came to Kumarghat Railway Station, Tripura, with the help of the traffickers’ racket in India.
Guwahati: Of late, the porous Indo-Bangladesh borders in West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam have become a safe border crossing point for Rohingya Muslims. With the help of their Indian handlers network, hundreds of Rohingya Muslims have crossed over to Indian territory and spread to big cities of India in search of jobs and shelter.
Railway Protection Force (RPF) of the North Frontier Railway apprehended 7 Rohingyas on Wednesday (16th March) night from New Jalpaiguri railway station. A joint team of Meri Saheli and Childline of New Jalpaiguri, during a routine check, detected suspicious activity of a group of people at platform No. 01 of New Jalpaiguri railway station. The group consisted of six females and one male.
On preliminary investigation, the arrested Rohingyas revealed they were residing at Camp No. 5 near Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. They illegally crossed the India- Bangladesh Border and came to Kumarghat Railway Station, Tripura, with the help of the traffickers’ racket in India. The traffickers’ network arranged Indian documents and train tickets for them. The Rohingya group then boarded train No. 13174, Kanchanjunga Express, on 15th March to Sealdah in Kolkata.
On 16th March, they all de-boarded at New Jalpaiguri station. They planned to travel from New Jalpaiguri to New Delhi by train No. 22449 (Poorvottar Sampark Kranti Express), which was supposed to depart from New Jalpaiguri at 13: 25 hours on Wednesday. All of them were brought to the GRP office of New Jalpaiguri for further interrogation to scoop out their exact details.
It should be mentioned that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested four persons involved in the illegal trafficking of Rohingya Muslims to India in the Cachar district of Assam last Sunday. The arrest was made based on information obtained by the agency after the arrest of 6 Rohingya traffickers last Friday from Bengaluru. NIA arrested Ashiqul Ahmed alias Kumkum Ahmed Chaudhury from Bengaluru. He is the mastermind of a racket named “Kumkum Racket”. This racket facilitates Rohingya Muslims to enter Indian territory through Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, and West Bengal borders. The racket also sends the Rohingya into different parts of India like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai etc. and engages them in various jobs.