The couple, Rashid Ali and his wife Khulakpam Tahir Begum, has been absconding since May 1 and has been apprehended under sections of the Indian Penal Code
Tengnoupal: Manipur police commandos Wednesday arrested a couple hailing from Uttar Pradesh who are allegedly the masterminds in the "trafficking" of Rohingyas from Myanmar into the State.
The couple ― 51-year-old Rashid Ali and his wife Khulakpam Tahir Begum ― were arrested from Yairipok Ningthounai Sabal Leikai locality in Imphal East district this morning around 5 am said S Ibomcha Singh, Tengnoupal superintendent of police.
"The couple was involved in trafficking of four Rohingya Muslims, including one woman in May this year", he said.
The couple has been absconding since May 1 and has been apprehended under sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Ibomcha Singh, who supervised the operation, said that in May a person who was apprehended by the police in connection with the trafficking of Rohingyas had confessed that at least six of them were brought into the state with the couple's help.
Some documents were also seized from the possession of the duo, he said adding that investigations are on to unearth the nexus and the related funding process.
The Manipur police are on the alert to apprehend Rohingyas who have entered the state illegally from the Indo-Myanmar border town of Moreh in Tengnoupal district and from Jiribam town in neighbouring Assam. In May eight Rohingyas with forged documents were arrested from a rented house in Imphal's Hatta Golapati locality, police said.
Ethnic Rohingyas have fled the Rakhine state of Myanmar since that country's army launched a crackdown on them following an attack by Arakan rebels on it and the police in 2016. The crackdown led to massive displacement of the Rohingyas and their subsequent influx to Bangladesh and the northeastern states of Assam and Manipur, which share a porous border with Myanmar.
The Centre holds Rohingya Muslims in the country as illegal immigrants and that their continued stay posed serious national security ramifications.
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