Kolkata: Bengal Police’s Special Task Force on Monday arrested Topsia resident Imran Hossain for allegedly helping suspected Pakistani national and ISI operative Rana Rouf cross over into India from Nepal and set up a spy network. Police have sought Hossain’s custody before a Barasat court.He is the third person to be arrested as part of the STF’s spy ring probe after Rouf and an alleged associate of his, Mohammad Ejaz.According to STF officials, Hossain was instrumental in sneaking Rouf, who is from Faisalabad in Pakistan, into India via Nepal and had on occasion personally escorted Rouf while he moved from Kathmandu through the porous Bihar-Nepal border into Raxaul in Kolkata. Rouf had travelled along this border around five times.STF officers have accused Hossain of helping Rouf forge fake identity papers, and create a document trail — including a fake local address in Topsia — to obtain an Indian passport.Ejaz, the other Rouf associate arrested along with him, had allegedly helped the Pakistani national obtain a fake voter ID.STF detectives arrested Rouf on Aug 12 from Habra in North 24 Parganas while he was trying to flee to Bangladesh through the Petrapole border. Officials said Rouf had realised that his fraudulent documents had been flagged by Indian law enforcement.Officials have recovered Rouf’s original passport and a diary containing phone numbers spanning across Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.STF detectives are in the process of tracing another Rouf associate, a person who goes by the name Pavel, who was allegedly waiting at the Bangladesh border to help Rouf exit India.Officials said Rouf and his associates had been tasked with monitoring troop movement of the Indian Army and the Border Security Force.
