At least 48 Bangladeshi infiltrators were arrested for attempting to cross the border back into Bangladesh from West Bengal‘s North 24 Parganas district, officials said on Sunday (2nd November). The arrests were made by the BSF in the Basirhat border area, which has been on high alert since the announcement of the SIR of electoral rolls in the state.
According to officials, the detained infiltrators were trying to return to Bangladesh due to fear of detention or deportation after the SIR process commenced. The SIR involves Booth Level Officers (BLOs) visiting homes to verify voter information, which reportedly made many undocumented residents anxious.
A senior BSF officer said most of those arrested worked as domestic help, labourers, and small-scale workers in Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, and nearby areas. “They were scared that they would be identified during voter verification, so they decided to cross the border secretly,” the officer said.
The BSF detained 33 people on Sunday and handed them over to Swaroop Nagar Police Station, while another 15 were caught on the Saturday night (1st November). All 48 were later produced in court and sent to judicial custody. In the last three days, nearly 90 Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested in the same area for attempting to cross the border illegally.
A similar case was reported on Saturday, 1st November, when 45 more Bangladeshi infiltrators, including 11 children and 15 women, were detained in Hakimpur, also in North 24 Parganas. They, too, were attempting to cross the border without valid documents.
According to Basirhat Superintendent of Police Hossain Mehedi Rahaman, the BSF had intercepted them during night patrols and then handed over the group to the police. “They had been working in Kolkata and Rajarhat and were trying to go back to Bangladesh through unauthorised routes,” he said. All of them were later sent to 14-day judicial custody.
BSF has increased patrols along the India-Bangladesh border following the incidents. Security agencies have started working in co-operation with the police in the area to check illegal crossing of people and see that no infiltration takes place during the voter verification process.
