A human trafficking syndicate formed a nexus with immigration police personnel at Sylhet Osmani International Airport and got a woman trafficked to the United Kingdom with a fake passport, a CID probe has found.
According to officials of the Trafficking in Human Being (THB) Squad of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), UK citizen Mokarram over social media and Bangladeshi Md Asraf Miah allegedly allured the woman with a life in the kingdom.
The woman fell for it and gave Mokarram a passport size photo of hers, she said in a case filed later on.
Mokarram then sent another UK citizen Zain Deen to Bangladesh with a "British passport" on February 8, 2019. The passport had the photo of the woman and mentioned Rubina Khatun as her name. The woman's name is not Rubina Khatun.
The officials said the passport had an entry into Bangladesh seal stamped at Osmani International Airport even though nobody was the bearer of that passport.
How the passport was stamped with or without the mandatory photograph taken at immigrations remains a mystery and investigators say that this could not be done without direct involvement of immigration police.
They said Zain gave the passport to the woman at the airport on February 11, 2019, and three days later, both of them boarded a flight to UK going through immigration with no issue.
CID officials told The Daily Star this too would have required involvement of the immigration police personnel.
Zain and the woman reached Heathrow where the immigration police quickly identified that she was carrying a fake passport. They sent her back on February 17, 2019.
Immigration police at Heathrow did not stop Zain as he had a valid UK passport.
On her return, the Sylhet airport authority informed the woman's family members and asked them to take her away paying Tk 2.60 lakh plane fare, the woman said in her case filed on February 22, 2019, with the Airport Police Station of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP).
She accused Zain, Mokarram, and Ashraf, a tenant of Zain's relative in Sylhet.
A CID high official, involved in the investigation, told this newspaper, "We have already identified some immigration officials involved in the crime but we need Zain's statement to get something concrete."
The officer, however, refused to disclose the identities or details of the immigration officials concerned.
Sources, however, said the CID's THB squad already interrogated six immigration officials.
Sayful Islam, officer-in-charge of Immigration Police at the Sylhet airport, said the policemen on duty at the airport then were transferred as part of a routine.
"I do not know anything about the incident as I was not on duty at that time," he said.
Asked how could someone slip through the immigration with a forged passport, and how could a passport get stamped without a bearer, the OC refused to comment.
Ezaz Ahmed, special superintendent of immigration police at Osmani airport, suggested contacting the investigating agency. "I have taken charge recently," he said.
CID officials said they wrote to National Central Bureau (NCB) of Bangladesh Police seeking assistance of the UK police for interrogating Zain via a video conference two months ago.
In response, the UK police on Monday sought evidence on how Zain was involved in the crime.
On Tuesday, the CID sent documents and closed circuit television (CCTV) camera footage that shows Zain was with the woman and they left Bangladesh together, sources said.
AKM Akteruzzaman, additional special superintendent of the CID, told The Daily Star that they were trying to reach Zain.
"We have got some more evidence which we are now analysing. Once we get Zain's statement, we would be able to say what and how it actually happened."
This newspaper talked to Md Asraf Miah, the third accused in the case now out on bail.
He said, "I am a tenant of Zain's brother in Kharadipara area of Sylhet. Zain uses my mobile phone when he visits Bangladesh.
"I have no involvement in the case but I was named as Zain used my number.
"I have never met the plaintiff before.
"After he left the country on February 14, 2019, with the girl, Zain stopped contacting me," added Ashraf.
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