Accused Lalit Kumar being taken to the police station in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, March 30: Even as the Men in Blue prepared for a clash against their Pakistan counterparts in Mohali, the state police busted a gang involved in human trafficking, with an agent across the border.

Lalit Kumar, a Kisanganj-based counsellor, was arrested on Tuesday from Gandhi Maidan area. Sources said he used to collect large sums from people with the promise of giving them jobs in Kuala Lampur, the capital of Malaysia.

Lalit’s Pakistani agent in Kuala Lumpur confiscated the passports of the men who reached Malaysia.

Then, the men would be sent to work in a factory, forced to live in miserable conditions and paid a pittance.

Finally, one of the trapped men was able to contact the Indian High Commission there, after which four of them were rescued and brought home this month. Four others are still trapped there.

Police sources said Lalit confessed during interrogations that he had sent at least eight persons, all Kisanganj residents, to Kuala Lumpur, promising them jobs of supervisors.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar said that Rana, a Pakistani national, used to receive these men in Kuala Lumpur and confiscate their passports. Then these men would be sent to work at a motorbike assembly plant.

“These men were treated as bonded labourers and given a monthly salary of 50 Malaysian ringgit. They were also forced to live in inhumane conditions,” said Alok.

He added: “Rana, who is a councillor with the Kisanganj district board, sent at least 16 men to Chennai in September last year to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur. Only eight of them reached Malaysia. He had promised them pay packets of 1,400 Malaysian ringgets, which is around Rs 20,000. Lalit took a sum of Rs 80,000 from each of the men.”

One of the trapped men, Sohail, managed to contact the Indian High Commission last month. The SSP said: “Four of the men were rescued and returned home on March 23. Jahangir Alam, one of the men, lodged an FIR at Kochadhaman police station, in Kisanganj. Sohail lodged another FIR at Thakurganj police station. Lalit got to know of it and absconded.

“We need to know more about how many people were trafficked like this. Some of the men were sent to other countries as well. The Kisanganj police contacted us and a special team was formed to arrest him,” said Kumar.

He added that the police were trying to rescue the four men still trapped in Malaysia.

Two mobiles, an ATM card, a PAN card, three SIM cards and Rs 35,000 were recovered from Lalit.