NIA, Assam Police Arrest 47 Middlemen Facilitating Rohingya Infiltration In India: Police

The Assam SDGP said an operation was launched by Special Task Force in July and on thorough investigation, it was found that Rohingyas were entering India through the Indo-Bangladesh border.

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), with the help of Assam Police, arrested 47 middlemen facilitating the infiltration of Rohingyas into the country, police said as reported by news agency ANI. Among those arrested, 25 were from Tripura, five from Assam, three from West Bengal, nine from Karnataka, three from Tamil Nadu, and one each from Haryana and Telangana.

Addressing a press conference, Special DGP, Assam, Harmeet Singh said, “There's been a collaborative effort of the NIA with us and in this collaborative effort, we were able to put together a list of touts from across the country. Today morning in the wee hours an operation was launched across many states by the NIA with the Assam Police and a total of 47 such touts and middlemen who were running this racket have been caught. 25 from Tripura, 5 from Assam, 3 from West Bengal, 9 from Karnataka, 1 from Haryana, 1 from Telangana and 3 from Tamil Nadu.”

The Assam SDGP said an operation was launched by Special Task Force (STF) in July and on thorough investigation, it was found that Rohingyas were entering India through the Indo-Bangladesh border. It also came to light that the infiltration was facilitated by middlemen who were present not only on both the sides of the Indo-Bangladesh Border, but also in the mainland.

Assam Police stepped up vigil and 450 infiltrators, travelling in a train from Tripura to Assam were stopped and turned back with the help of the Border Guarding Forces.

“We noticed a group of Rohingyas who were travelling in a train from Tripura and had entered Assam...450 such infiltrators were stopped and turned back with the help of border guarding forces. There was an operation launched by STF (Special Task Force) Assam, in July...Once questioning and inquiries took place it was very apparent that this is a matter which is a national security concern and has interstate ramifications,” he said.

The Assam government took up the matter with the Ministry of Home Affairs, and requested the case be transferred to the NIA, the SDGP further said.