Kolkata, Dec 23: A total of 190 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants have been arrested in the Indo-Bangladesh border district of Nadia in West Bengal alone during the past year, as per the records of the state police.
Again, as per the same records, out of 190, around 52 were arrested during the last 45 days when the political crisis in neighbouring Bangladesh was at its peak because of the continuous attacks on the minority Hindus and religious institutions there.
As per records, sources aware of the development said that all of them crossed over to the Indian side taking advantage of the porous and unfenced borders in parts of the district and then started residing in India and started the process of arranging fake Indian identity documents through the local agents network.
An insider from the state police pointed out that these 190 arrested included only those who had started residing at the border-adjacent villages only in Nadia district after illegally crossing its porous borders.
“It is quite possible that many of them after crossing the borders in Nadia might have shifted to other districts in due course. In that case, the number of illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators crossing over to the Indian territory through the porous borders in Nadia district would be much higher,” he added.
West Bengal Police and Kolkata Police are informed that of the many rackets operating in the state and arranging fake Indian passports for illegal Bangladeshi residents, the maximum is from Nadia district.
Recently, a former Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) associate Selim Matabbar was arrested from a hotel in the Park Street area in central Kolkata, along with a fake Indian passport. Investigation revealed that he got that fake Indian passport arranged by such a racket operating from Nadia district only.
Matabbar, who was arrested on November 30, managed to get a job at the same hotel by virtue of that fake passport. On the same day, the cops of Nadia district police arrested four illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators namely Sumi Akhtar, Iman Biswas, Shankar Biswas and Rupkumar Biswas from Mazdia under Krishnaganj Police station in Nadia.
IANS