The agency said there was alleged illegal trafficking of foreign nationals from Myanmar and Bangladesh
State Investigation Agency of Kashmir on Thursday conducted searches at 18 locations in summer capital Srinagar to investigate a “trans-national” human trafficking case, the agency said.
SIA sleuths carried out extensive searches across various parts of the city to investigate the “illegal trafficking” of foreign nationals from neighbouring countries into India “under the guise of employment” opportunities.
“Special teams of the SIA aided by the Srinagar police started the searches in the early hours,” a statement by the agency said.
During the operation, the SIA informed that incriminating material and documents such as identity cards, bank documents, identity cards, and registers besides digital devices like mobile phones and computers were seized from various human resource consultancies.
The agency said there was alleged illegal trafficking of foreign nationals from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
“Investigations reveal that vulnerable foreign nationals are trafficked to India under the guise of employment opportunities. Upon their transportation to Jammu and Kashmir, they are sold to fake and illegal human resource agencies/ consultancies, who further exploit them under the garb of job opportunities such as domestic helpers, maids, and babysitters, often leading to sexual exploitation,” the SIA said.
The agency said that the “nefarious scheme” was part of a broader conspiracy hatched by international terrorist organizations, in connivance with notorious trans-border human traffickers.
“These groups facilitate the infiltration of foreign nationals across international borders, concealing their original identities with forged Indian documents with an ultimate aim is to establish sleeper cells to aid, execute, or facilitate terrorist acts in Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement said.
The State Investigation Agency stressed that the seized material will be ‘meticulously examined’ so that all the accused persons are identified and brought to book.
“Today’s search operation marks the continuous pursuit of SIA in dismantling the terror ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir and unfurling the sinister agendas of international terrorist organizations operating in the region,” it said.
The SIA was formed in 2021 for fast-track investigations in terrorism cases and also to coordinate with other state and central probing agencies. Since the beginning, the agency has filed multiple cases into terrorist networks, their alleged supporters and over the ground workers, funding and misuse of SIM cards and misuse of social media.
