New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday busted five modules engaged in human trafficking and arrested 44 operatives as it carried out nationwide raids, an official said.
The raids were conducted in coordination with the Border Security Force and state police forces at 55 locations in eight states and two union territories, a spokesperson of the NIA said.
The raids were carried out in Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Haryana, Rajasthan and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry, according to a PTI report.
According to the federal agency, out of the 44 operatives arrested, 21 were in Tripura, followed by 10 in Karnataka, five in Assam, three in West Bengal, two in Tamil Nadu, and one each in Puducherry, Telangana, and Haryana.
According to PTI, official sources said a couple of more people, including a Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar identified as Zaffar Alam, were detained during the raids in Jammu and Samba districts.
The NIA said that during the searches, it recovered various items of significance including digital devices, identity-related documents including Aadhaar and PAN cards (suspected to be forged), more than Rs 20 lakh in cash and foreign currency amounting to USD 4,550.
The spokesperson said that the simultaneous and synchronised raids and searches were carried out following the registration of four human trafficking cases in Guwahati, Chennai, Bengaluru and Jaipur.
As per the federal agency, the initial case was registered on September 9 by the Assam Police's Special Task Force (STF) and pertained to a human trafficking network responsible for the infiltration and settlement of illegal migrants across the Indo-Bangladesh border, including those of Rohingya origin.
The official said the investigations in the case revealed that different modules of this illegal human trafficking network were spread over various states, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.
Based on these findings, the NIA registered three new cases to bust the modules of this extensive network based in different regions and states of the country, the official said.