The rise in Rohingya Muslim infiltration from Myanmar, the majority of whom have affiliations to pro-Pakistan terror organisations, has posed a major challenge to the Uttar Pradesh authorities. The authorities have tightened the noose to nab these intruders, who have reportedly established a large network in the Western Districts of the state including Meerut, Aligarh, Bulandshahr and Deoband. According to a report by Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, the security agencies in the state have detained as many as 16 Rohingya Muslims in western UP between January 2021 and June 22, 2022.
As per data shared by the Hindi media outlet, on March 2nd, 2021, the UP ATS had apprehended one Rohingya illegal immigrant each from Unnao, Noida and Aligarh. Similarly, on March 12, 2021, two were apprehended from the Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh. Likewise, the ATS had nabbed 2 Rohingya illegal immigrants from Ghaziabad on June 8.
Continuing the crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims, who illegally enter India through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border and then infiltrate different parts of the country, the UP ATS nabbed four such intruders from Aligarh on June 17. According to reports, two of the accused, Mohammad Rafiq and Mohammad Aameen nabbed from Aligarh were also allegedly involved in gold smuggling.
Uttar Pradesh ATS arrests four more illegal Rohingya Muslims who ran a sophisticated human trafficking network
The following day, on June 18, the Uttar Pradesh police went on to conduct a similar operation and arrest four Rohingya illegal immigrants from Meerut for running a sophisticated international human trafficking syndicate from inside the country.
According to the Uttar Pradesh police, the four Rohingyas – Hafiz Shamiullah, Azizul Rahman, Mohammad Ismail and Mufizur Rahman, who were nabbed by the Uttar Pradesh ATS had been staying illegally in India. They were caught running a notorious human trafficking syndicate and helped other illegal Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar infiltrate India.
OpIndia reported how following the arrest of the Rohingyas from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police revealed that these four arrested accused indulged in human trafficking of fellow Rohingyas, especially young girls, on the pretext of bringing them to India. The police said that the accused helped Rohingyas settled in Bangladesh to cross over to India with the help of forged documents such as Voter Id, Aadhar card, passports etc.
The report by Dainik Bhaskar further stated, that currently, more than two thousand Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi are living illegally in Uttar Pradesh, out of which almost 15,000 are settled in the Western region of the state.
According to the Uttar Pradesh police, one of the accused identified as Amir Hussain, a resident of Delhi, had during interrogation, revealed that he helped Rohingya Muslims infiltrate the country by securing forged Indian citizenship documents for them. Amir Husain had been living in Ghaziabad with forged papers.
It had come to light that a vendor operating from the Khajuri Khas area in Delhi had facilitated the illegal immigration of Rohingyas and settled them in Uttar Pradesh.
In a similar operation, the Uttar Pradesh police also arrested a Sant Kabir Nagar resident Azizullah on January 6, 2021. On February 28, one Mohammad Farooq and Hasan were nabbed from Aligarh’s Kamela Road. Shahid, Mohammad Farooq’s brother, was detained on March 1 in Unnao. These were all citizens of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, who illegally infiltrated India.
The Uttar Pradesh ATS, based on the interrogation of arrested Rohingya Muslims, also revealed that hundreds of Rohingyas have crossed over illegally into the country and are working in slaughterhouses in the state.
Moreover, in states like Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, etc, where there is a heavy demand for labourers, these Rohingya Muslims take up these jobs and start living like any other local Muslim. They also bring others from Myanmar and Bangladesh and help them get similar low-wage jobs. They manage to get forged identity documents too which makes it difficult to identify them.
Dainik Bhaskar has provided a list of illegal Rohingya Muslims who have been apprehended from Deoband, Uttar Pradesh over the past 11 years. All of the accused who were detained had connections to one or more pro-Pakistan terror groups.
- In the year 2001, Mufti Israr was arrested from Saharanpur Madrasa for terrorist activities.
- Irfan, an accused in the 2005 Ayodhya bomb blast case, was also nabbed from Deoband in Uttar Pradesh.
- In 2009, Amir Ahmed alias Bura, an agent of the Pakistani agency ISI, was arrested.
- In the year 2016, Delhi Police arrested 12 suspected youths belonging to the terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed from Deoband.
- In the year 2017, Bangladeshi terrorist Abdullah was arrested from Deoband.
- Junaid Khan (Rohingya) was arrested from Deoband in the year 2018.
- In the year 2019, 5 Bangladeshis were arrested from Deoband.
