NIA, Tripura police arrest human trafficking suspect
The Tripura police said a team of NIA came from Guwahati to Sepahijala and they have moved a transit remand plea at a local court
A Tripura youth accused of human trafficking in a case registered with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) last year was arrested by the central agency and state police on Sunday from Sepahijala district, officials said.
Speaking to media persons at Bishalgarh of Sepahijala district, local police station in-charge Rana Chatterjee said that Hannan Miah of Matinagar in Sepahijala district was accused in a human trafficking case of the NIA from last year.
“He was accused in a human trafficking case of the NIA registered in Guwahati last year. He was the most wanted criminal in that case. We arrested him from Rastarmatha area in Sepahijala district as per requisition from NIA. A team of NIA came here today from Guwahati. They have moved a transit remand plea at a local court here today. If the court grants the order, they will have him moved to Guwahati tomorrow (Monday)”, the official said.
There are a few more accused persons in the case and warrants were issued against them, the official added.
The arrests come shortly after five persons were arrested from different parts of Tripura in December last year connected to a case of human trafficking in Guwahati.
The arrests made last year in connection with NIA’s human trafficking case included three persons arrested from Belonia and Sabroom in South District and two others were arrested from Irani in Unakoti district.
The operation was carried out by a joint team of the NIA, Border Security Force (BSF) and state police.
The central agency arrested 44 persons as part of the human trafficking case last year. This included 21 people arrested from Tripura, 10 persons from Karnataka, two others from Tamil Nadu, one person each from Haryana, Telangana and Puducherry.
The arrest came shortly after BSF jawans arrested a cross-border smuggler from a bordering area in Tripura’s West district on Saturday in possession of four gold biscuits.
The arrestee was identified as 36-year old Prashant Rai from Amtali of West Tripura district. He was arrested in an ambush set by BSF personnel near the Indo-Bangla international border.
“In the series of operations, on 18.05.24, based on specific BSF input an ambush was laid by BSF troops in the area of BOP Nischintpur, 42 battalion of BSF. The ambush party observed the movement of two suspects in between the international boundary and border fence,” the an official said.
However, one of the other smugglers in the group escaped and ran away taking advantage of dense vegetation, the official said. A manhunt was started to search and find him.
Nischintapur is the last Indian village on the Indian side before Bangladesh in the area and also a high security zone since it is an intersection point in the Agartala-Akhaura international railway connectivity route, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina last year.