MANGALURU: Karnataka's Mangaluru City Police have arrested two alleged human trafficking agents and secured the arrest of a key suspect in Kolkata in connection with a racket that allegedly smuggled illegal Bangladeshi nationals into India and facilitated their employment in coastal Karnataka.
Police have registered a case against three accused—Moidin Islam, Rasul Islam and Dilwar Hussain, all from West Bengal. Investigators allege the trio operated an interstate trafficking network that illegally brought Bangladeshi nationals across the border and passed them off as migrant labourers from northern Indian states.
Moidin Islam and Dilwar Hussain were arrested by Mangaluru City Police. Based on their interrogation, Kolkata Police arrested the third accused, Rasul Islam, in a joint operation. A Mangaluru police team has travelled to Kolkata to obtain his transit remand and bring him back for further investigation.
According to police, the accused recruited workers for the construction and industrial sectors in coastal Karnataka, using the movement of migrant labourers to conceal undocumented Bangladeshi nationals. Investigators are probing the alleged use of forged identity documents, cross-border infiltration routes and the involvement of local facilitators.
The arrests follow a recent verification drive in which police detained several illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from construction sites in Mangaluru. Officials said the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are likely as the network is further uncovered. (IANS)
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