Thread: Cops sniff ISI role in human trafficking

Cops sniff ISI role in human trafficking
Dalip Singh
New Delhi, March 13

The Delhi Police have leads to a Bangkok-based ISI operative believed to be pushing counterfeit money into India. He is also allegedly involved in forging visas and trafficking people to Europe.

The ISI's foray into human trafficking is being seen as the Pakistani intelligence agency's attempt to raise funds for its anti-India activities through another low-investment, high-yield illegal business.

The ISI operative - code-named Shah Saheb alias Sajjad Ahmed - is actively involved in forging the visa stickers (a security feature pasted on the passports while getting visas) and getting air tickets.

Shah's name figured in a human-trafficking-cum-visa racket the Delhi Police were investigating.

In an FIR filed on Thursday, the Delhi Police (special cell) have charged that "Shah Saheb, an ISI officer based in Bangkok, along with associates Azhar Bhatt alias 'Ganja' and Shafiq Bhatt", were "actively involved in human trafficking and circulation of counterfeit money". The police said the names of Azhar and Shafiq have blinked on the intelligence radar for more than two years.

Their names had come up in counterfeit note cases handled by the police in Kolkata, Bangalore and Uttar Pradesh.

However, Shah's name had not cropped up in any case, the police said.

It is learnt that Shah operated through Azhar and Shafiq. They held meetings at the Sher-e-Punjab restaurant in Pahurat, the police said.

The police have also busted the Indian ring of Shah. A Sikkimese woman, Chung Chung Doma Bhutia, 44, who was staying at Gandhi Vihar in New Delhi, and Nasiruddin, of Ghaziabad, have been arrested.

Two fake visa stickers of Canada, 15 Indian passports and nine Nepali passports were recovered from their possession, a Delhi Police special cell release said.

During interrogation, Bhutia is said to have disclosed that she was involved in human trafficking and got forged visa stickers from Shah.

Internal security experts suspect counterfeit money is being transported from Pakistan to Bangkok in diplomatic baggage.

The Pakistani agents then distribute the currency notes among their conduits to push them into India.

The police sources said fake currency with a face value of Rs 1,000 can be bought in Thailand for Rs 350. It is then sold at the rate of Rs 700.

Another modus operandi the ISI has adopted to fund its anti-India campaign is cloning credit cards. The sources said Shah and his henchmen cloned credit cards of Indian banks and used them to withdraw money.

After obtaining details of the credit cards, the information is passed on by means of text messages to Thailand.

The cards are then cloned there. The cards of a popular private bank and another leading public sector unit are being targeted the most for cloning.

The special cell police said Nasiruddin had disclosed that his associates and he managed to send seven persons to Bangkok. According to him, the septet will fly to Canada or the European countries.

They charged Rs 6.5 lakh per person and got Rs 1 lakh as their share in the deal.

In April 2001, the Pakistan embassy's former first- secretary in Nepal, Muhammad Arshad Cheema, had been expelled from Kathmandu after the Nepalese police recovered a large quantity of RDX from the house he was staying in.

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