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Asains found guilty of smuggling migrants to UK

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A 38-year-old Asian-origin man has been found guilty of being part of an organised crime group linked to the prolific smuggling of migrants, including minors, to the UK.

Najib Khan, 38, from Ilford was identified as being part of the network by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), following the arrest of his co-conspirator Waqas Ikram, 40, in March 2021.

Ikram, who was caught red-handed attempting to break into a heavy goods vehicle to put migrants inside, worked for a people smuggling organised crime group headed by Mokter Hossain.

An iPhone belonging to Ikram, seized following his arrest, contained numerous conversations with Khan outlining their involvement in a separate people smuggling network, charging migrants up to 7,000 pounds a head to bring them to the UK, the NCA said in a statement.

Phone evidence showed that Khan and Ikram had been involved in a successful crossing involving five migrants being transported into Harwich in March 2019, and two other attempts that had been foiled by border agents.

The first of these was in May 2019, when 15 Vietnamese and one Afghan migrant were found in a lorry at the Hook of Holland as it prepared to board a ferry to Harwich.

In the same year in August, 16 migrants including 11 minors, were rescued from a purpose built concealment in a lorry carrying 2,000 loose tyres.

The lorry was preparing to board a ferry from Dieppe to Newhaven, and officers reported the heat and the nature of the concealment made breathing difficult.

The lorry drivers involved in both would later be jailed in the Netherlands and France, but the NCA was able to prove Ikram’s crime group had been involved in both attempts.

Further conversations between Khan and Ikram showed they were using GPS trackers to follow lorries that they had arranged to be broken into without drivers’ knowledge to stow migrants.

One of the trackers was found at Khan’s house when he was arrested by the NCA. In 2020, Khan and Ikram purchased a rigid hull inflatable boat for the purpose of smuggling migrants, and Ikram attended a course for piloting powerboats that June, the NCA said.

In July, the pair were encountered by Border Force off the coast of Suffolk in their RHIB.

They told officers they were scouting for scuba diving sites, and returned to Walton-on-the-Naze.

“Ikram and Khan had no regard for the safety and security of those they were transporting, they were only interested in making money from them,” NCA branch commander Andy Noyes said in a statement.

“In at least one case it was only the fact that the migrants were discovered by border agents that prevented them being left in what could have been an incredibly dangerous, and potential fatal, situation,” Noyes added.

Ikram was arrested by the NCA in 2021, charged with people smuggling offences and released on bail by the court. Both he and Khan were detained in connection with further offences by the NCA in July 2022 and charged with three counts of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration.

While Ikram pleaded guilty to the charge, Khan went to trial, following which a jury at Reading Crown Court on Friday found him guilty on all three counts.

They will be sentenced on October 30.

Crime

UP Crime: Brother Kills Sister By Shooting In Her Head For Talking To Man On Mobile Phone In Saharanpur

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Saharanpur, December 11: A 20-year-old man shot dead his 18-year-old sister for talking to a man on her mobile phone in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district. The incident took place in a village in the district late on Sunday night. According to the police, the victim, Muskan, was taken to the district hospital where doctors pronounced her ‘brought dead’.

‘It is still not clear with whom the deceased was talking’

“It is still not clear with whom the deceased was talking on the phone which angered her brother Aditya Prajapati. Their mother Babita, who was also present at the time of the incident, tried to hide the facts and initially told us that some unidentified persons had shot her daughter dead while she was sleeping,” said Satyendra Prakash Singh, in charge, Saharanpur Rural Kotwali police station.

The police said no FIR has been filed in this connection yet

The police said no FIR has been filed in this connection yet as their father, Jagmohan, 46, a daily wage earner who lives in Dehradun, has yet to reach the village.

‘The body has been handed over to the family for cremation’

“He is expected to reach the village later in the day. The body has been handed over to the family for cremation after the post-mortem examination,” said Singh. Vipin Tada, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Saharanpur, said their mother did not inform the area police station about the incident.

Her daughter was shot by her brother

“The area police got information after the district hospital sent the information that a woman had died owing to a bullet injury. We interrogated the mother who later accepted that her daughter was shot by her brother,” said Tada. “The brother is absconding and we have formed three teams to arrest him,” he added.

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Crime

NIA SWOOPS DOWN ON 44 LOCATIONS IN M’RASHTRA & K’NATAKA, ARRESTS 15 ISIS OPERATIVES OF ISIS MAHARASHTRA MODULE

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New Delhi, 9th December 2023
In a massive crackdown on ISIS, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday arrested 15 operatives of the banned terror outfit during multiple and widespread raids across Maharashtra and Karnataka.

NIA teams swooped down on as many as 44 locations in Padgha-Borivali, Thane, Mira Road and Pune in Maharashtra, and Bengaluru in Karnataka early this morning, and apprehended the 15 accused for promoting terror and terror related acts and activities of the proscribed organisation.

Huge amounts of unaccounted cash, firearms, sharp edged weapons, incriminating documents, smart phones and other digital devices were seized during the raids, conducted as part of NIA’s ongoing efforts to disrupt and demolish the attempts of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to carry out violent acts of terror and take innocent lives.

The accused, operating on the directions of their foreign handlers, had been actively involved in various terrorist activities, including fabrication of IEDs, for furthering the violent and destructive agenda of the ISIS, as per NIA investigations.

NIA investigations have further revealed that the accused, all members of ISIS Maharashtra module, were operating from Padgha-Borivali, where they had hatched the conspiracy to spread terror and carry out acts of violence across India. Pursuing the path of violent Jihad, Khilafat, ISIS etc., the accused had aimed to disturb the peace and communal harmony of the country and to wage a war against the Government of India.

Initial investigations have revealed that the arrested accused had self-declared the village of Padgha in rural Thane as a ‘liberated zone’ and as ‘Al Sham’. They were motivating impressionable Muslim youth to relocate in Padgha from their place of residence for strengthening the Padgha base.

Saqib Nachan, the main accused and the leader and head of the ISIS module, was also administering the ‘bayath’ (oath of allegiance to the Khalifa of ISIS ) to the persons joining the proscribed organisation.

ISIS is a Global Terror Organisation (GTG) , also known as Islamic State (IS) / Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) / Daish / Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) / ISIS Wilayat Khorasan/Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham Khorasan (ISIS-K)). The outfit has been spreading its terror network in India by putting in place localized ISIS modules and cells in various States of the country.

NIA has, in recent months, conducted large-scale raids and busted different ISIS modules by arresting several terror operatives in the ISIS terror conspiracy case in a bid to scuttle the organisation’s heinous and violent anti-India agenda. As part of its efforts towards that end, the agency had registered a case against the ISIS Maharashtra module earlier this year and has, since then, undertaken strong and concerted actions to destroy the various ISIS modules and networks operating across the country.

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Crime

UP Woman Critically Injured After Sub-Inspector Accidentally Shoots Her In Head At Aligarh Police Station

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A police officer in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh accidently shot a woman in her head from close range. A CCTV footage of the freak accident was circulated on social media on Friday.

In the video, the woman, who was accompanied by a man, was seen sitting at the police station for passport verification at the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) office of Aligarh Kotwali Nagar. A police officer handed over the pistol to sub-inspector Manoj Sharma, who proceeded to load the gun. Suddenly, a bullet was fired and hit the woman’s head. She was taken to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College for urgent medical attention.

Law enforcement officials, including the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and other police officers, arrived at the medical centre to inquire about the victim’s condition and oversee the ongoing treatment, according to reports.

Sub-inspector Sharma reportedly fled the scene following the accidental shooting. “We are actively pursuing all necessary legal measures, including the immediate suspension of the accused inspector. The motive behind the accidental firing is currently unknown, and our priority is ensuring the victim receives the necessary medical care,” said Kalanidhi Naithani, SSP, Aligarh.

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