Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said 12 Bangladeshi nationals, including three children, were apprehended in Goalpara district for illegally entering India, while he suspected the involvement of a human trafficking and infiltration network.
“A human trafficking and illegal migration angle is suspected. “While these unwarranted guests will be dealt with accordingly, we will hunt down their hosts here and treat them with the right provisions of Indian law. We remain alert, as always,” he added.
Members of the group, comprising nine adults and three children, said they were brought to India via Jaflong in Meghalaya on October 5 by a broker named Sabor, Sarma said in the social media post on Saturday night.
“Later, a Khasi person accompanying the broker took them to Guwahati, where they were kept for three days,” he said, adding the broker fled from near Guwahati railway station after allegedly taking 7,000 Bangladeshi Taka and a mobile phone from the group. “The broker allegedly showed them video calls of other Bangladeshi nationals working in a company in Guwahati and promised them jobs,” the CM said. Authorities are investigating further,” Sarma said.
In a graphic description shared along with a social media post, the CM said the apprehensions were made after a local spotted some people wandering and crying in panic on Friday night. Later, the group reached Goalpara by bus on Friday night and was eventually spotted by the local, Sarma said.
