Traffickers buy up land, houses to 密輸する women across India-Bangladesh 国境
By Anuradha Nagaraj
CHENNAI, India, June 23 (Thomson Reuters 創立／基礎) - Along the India-Bangladesh 国境 that runs through India's eastern 明言する／公表する of West Bengal, human traffickers are buying land, building homes and 入会させるing on 投票者 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s to create cover for their cross-国境 操作／手術s, 選挙運動者s said.
"Traffickers operating in 国境 areas are 絶えず looking for ways to legitimise their 商売／仕事," said Adrian Phillips of 非，不，無-利益（をあげる） group 司法（官） and Care, which 作品 on the 起訴 of traffickers and care for 犠牲者s.
"購入（する） of land using 偽の 文書s is ... carried out to 伸び（る） a foothold, 設立する support, a base and build a nexus."
Thousands of people - 大部分は poor, 田舎の women and children - are 誘惑するd to India's towns and cities each year by traffickers who 約束 good 職業s but sell them into 売春 or 国内の servitude.
West Bengal 明言する／公表する - which 株 a porous 国境 with poorer 隣人s Bangladesh and Nepal and is a known human trafficking 中心 for that 推論する／理由 - 登録（する）d more than one-third of the total number of 犠牲者s in 2016.
A 報告（する）／憶測 by 司法（官） and Care and the Indian 国境 安全 軍隊 last month points to 明確な／細部 instances where traffickers on both 味方するs "固く結び付ける their 操作／手術s" by buying land in villages の近くに to the India-Bangladesh 国境 and 入会させるing their 指名するs in 投票者s 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s in the village 会議s.
The porous, 概略で 2,000 km (1,250 miles) long 国境 running through West Bengal is 境界を定めるd まず第一に／本来 by 国境 中心存在s and meanders through villages, 農業の land and rivers.
Every day it is crossed by thousands of people, who 株 類似の 民族の, 宗教的な, linguistic and cultural 特徴.
These features along with the topography make it 平易な for infiltrators, smugglers and human traffickers to cross over into India, 安全 公式の／役人s say.
"When traffickers produce valid 投票者 cards or land 行為s, it makes survei llance and 身元確認，身分証明 even tougher," a 上級の 国境 安全 軍隊 officer told the Thomson Reuters 創立／基礎, 拒絶する／低下するing to be 指名するd.
India - which has an 概算の 40 パーセント of almost 46 million people enslaved 世界的な によれば the 2016 全世界の Slavery 索引 - is a 目的地 and 輸送 point for young girls and women 存在 trafficked into 売春宿s or 国内の servitude.
Traffickers are using 偽の 文書s to buy land or acquire Indian 身元 cards, the 報告（する）／憶測 said.
It gave the example of "Trafficker 1", a Bangladeshi 国民 who had all the necessary Indian 身元 文書s, 含むing a ration card.
He had 購入（する）d 政府-owned land and built a house on it, using it as a 一時的な 避難所 point for girls 存在 trafficked from Bangladesh. The 研究員s discovered that more than 35 girls trafficked by the person were working in Mumbai.
述べるing their 旅行 from their villages in Bangladesh to 売春宿s in India, most trafficking 犠牲者s said they were "harboured" for a night in a 避難所 along the 国境.
These 召集（する）ing points are grooming grounds for the girls who are to be sold to 売春宿s later, the 報告（する）／憶測 said.
"We are acutely aware of the 問題／発行するs arising from a person having a 偽の 投票者 card because that is proof of Indian 国籍," said Antara Acharya of the 地区 行政 of North 24 Parganas, a 国境 地区 in West Bengal.
"It's not 平易な when the international 国境 divides a village in two in 確かな parts but we （問題を）取り上げる every （民事の）告訴 that comes on a 優先 basis." (報告（する）／憶測ing by Anuradha Nagaraj, Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters 創立／基礎, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers 人道的な news, women's 権利s, trafficking and 気候 change. Visit www.信用.org)
