India's Government Railway Police (GRP) have arrested a suspected corpse smuggler and recovered 50 human skeletons at the Chapra railway station in Bihar's Saran district. The arrested man, identified as Sanjay Prasad, was traveling in Balia-Sealdah Express, Sputnik reported.
GRP official suspect that the skeletons, being brought from Balia in Uttar Pradesh, were meant to be smuggled to China via Bhutan, according to local media reports.
According to the police, the suspect is being interrogated to ascertain if he is part of a larger syndicate engaged in the trade.
"GRP men also recovered Nepalese and Bhutanese currencies, many ATM cards, two identity cards and SIM cards with Nepal mobile phone numbers from his possession. One of the identity cards had the address of Paharpur in West Champaran while the second card was issued from New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. The GRP will seek the remand of the arrested person when he is produced in a court on Wednesday," deputy superintendent of GRP Mohammad Tanvir told the media.
The seizure of foreign currency is a definite indication that the racket may have its tentacles spread to foreign countries, the officer added.
Local scribes told Sputnik that the syndicate could be of international nature and more arrests are possible.
"It is not the first time that the arrest has happened in this regard. In these border areas, arrests have been made in 2004 as well as in 2009 with more than 1000 skulls and skeletons. The syndicate is across the border and the supply area is from the poverty-stricken districts of India and remote villages. More arrests could happen soon and the police this time are trying to establish the whole chain of smuggling," Abhishek Arun, a local journalist from Chapra told Sputnik.