Kolkata, Aug 30 (IANS) West Bengal Police on Sunday said the Special Task Force (STF) arrested a Bangladeshi national involved in a cross-border kidney smuggling racket in Kolkata.
The Bangladeshi national, identified as Russel Ahmed, was arrested late Saturday night from the Baguihati area, said officials.
“After arresting him from the Baguihati area in the northern outskirts of Kolkata on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, the STF sleuths have handed him over to the cops of Bidhannagar (South) Police Station under the Bidhannagar City Police in North 24 Parganas district,” said a state police officer.
The Bangladeshi national will be presented at a district court in North 24 Parganas later in the day. The cops are currently interrogating him to obtain information about his local associates in the racket.
Records show that Ahmed was arrested earlier in 2024 because of his involvement in the kidney smuggling racket. At that time, he was arrested by the Delhi Police.
The sleuths of Delhi Police came to know then that Ahmed had entered India illegally and had managed to arrange Indian identity documents, including an Aadhaar card and a PAN card. He was illegally living in West Bengal on rent for a long time and was involved in a kidney smuggling racket.
It is learnt that a few days ago, the STF arrested one person, Prabhas Mondal, who was also involved in a kidney smuggling racket. Ahmed’s name came up during interrogation of Mondal. The cops then came to know how Ahmed was playing a key role in running a cross-border kidney smuggling racket involving both India and Bangladesh.
Mondal was arrested on August 18 on the basis of a complaint lodged against him by the father of a victim youth, whose one kidney was operated on at a nominal price. It is learnt that this racket mainly targeted youth from financially backward families.
“The racket operators took these youth to other states promising jobs. There their kidneys were operated on, and victims were paid a nominal amount against that,” he said.
During the police investigation, a rate chart was found in Ahmed’s possession. Papers from private hospitals in different states were also found, with details of kidney requirements for these hospitals mentioned.
–IANS
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