A Pakistani woman who allegedly fled from prison in Nepal during the recent unrest in the Himalayan country was arrested in Sabroom under the South Tripura district late Saturday evening. The woman was arrested after she reached Sabroom on the Kanchanjungha Express that plies between Sealdah in West Bengal and Sabroom in Tripura.
Speaking to reporters, an officer of the Government Railway Police (GRP) informed that the woman was detained after she was spotted moving suspiciously at the Sabroom railway station.
During the interrogation, she initially claimed to be one Saheena Parveen, 50, from Purani Basti in Delhi. However, since she could not provide any valid identification documents, she was further probed, and a few sheets of paper with several Pakistani contact numbers scribbled on them were found tied to her waist, the officer said.
She later confessed to being Louis Nighat Akhtar Bhano, wife of one Md Golaf Faraj, a resident of Younganabad village in Sheikhupura district of Pakistan.
The woman apparently told interrogators that she had travelled to Nepal 12 years ago on a passport and got involved in drug trafficking. She was arrested by the Nepal Police in 2014 for possessing brown sugar and was sentenced to a 15-year jail term.
The Pakistani woman was lodged at Kathmandu Jail, but escaped custody during the recent unrest in Nepal that led to a change of guard in the country.
She entered India about a fortnight ago and supposedly learnt from her associates about the possibility of returning to Pakistan via Bangladesh, the officer said, citing the woman’s purported confession.
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The woman is learnt to have confessed during interrogation that she tried to cross the border through West Bengal but failed, following which she decided to travel to Sabroom to get into Bangladesh.
Further interrogation is being conducted to ascertain details of her activities and her accomplices.
Tripura shares an 856 km-long international border with Bangladesh, parts of which are still unfenced due to local disputes.
