BSF rescues Bangladeshi woman from human traffickers

Kolkata, Aug 18 (IANS) The Border Security Force (BSF) has rescued a Bangladeshi woman from the clutches of a human trafficking gang and also nabbed a tout.

The woman, who belongs to the Gaya Banda district in Bangladesh, was trafficked to India in July last year through the Benapole-Petrapole border along with one of her friends.

The woman was carrying gold ornaments worth over Rs 60,000 when the BSF troopers, deployed at the Bhithari border outpost in West Bengal, rescued her around 12.05 p.m. on Monday in a special search operation based on specific intelligence inputs, while she was going back to Bangladesh.

An Indian tout, identified as Tariqal Gazi (31), was apprehended during the operation.

During interrogation, Gazi revealed that he was involved in petty smuggling in the border area and also worked as a tout in the network of human trafficking spread across the India-Bangladesh border.

As per Gazi's statement, his friend Alamgir handed over the Bangladeshi woman to him and also asked him to traffic her across the International Border (IB). After reaching their destination he was to be paid Rs 1,000.

"The apprehended woman revealed that she was trafficked in India a year ago along with one of her friends called Rupa," the BSF said in a statement.

After reaching India, the woman along with her friend stayed at Bangoan for one month and later they moved to Sonagachi in Kolkata and stayed there for 15 days, said the BSF statement.

"Thereafter, she left with Rupa for Bengaluru where she stayed at Roshan Nagar and worked as a sex worker. In October, 2019 she came in contact with a customer named Suresh alias Shiva. She fell in love with him, and in December, she eloped with him and stayed with him for about eight months in his flat in Bengaluru.

"On August 16, the woman came to Kolkata by Indigo airlines and called Kirti, a cab driver, who is also part of the human trafficking network.

"Kirti dropped her at Hakimpur on Monday morning with Alamgir and another man named Lalu. After that they both brought her to Bhithari and there she was handed over to Gazi who was to traffic her back to Bangladesh. She also revealed that she paid Rs 10,000 to Kirti for crossing the IB," said the BSF.

The apprehended Indian tout and the Bangladeshi woman have been handed over to Swarupnagar police station for further action.