IB sounds alert on Bangladeshi infiltrators

The arrested Bangladesh nationals have reportedly admitted that several of their countrymen had intruded into the Indian territory along with them.

Personnel of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), the Government Railway Police (GRP), and the Law and Order police of Rajamahendravaram and Vijayawada had on Saturday arrested eight Bangladeshis while they were travelling by the Howrah-Chennai and Howrah-Vascodagama Express trains.

During questioning, they reportedly confessed that several persons from Bagerhat and other districts in Bangladesh had sneaked into India along with them.

Investigation officers suspect that many Bangladeshis are clandestinely staying in Kolkata, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa and other cities.

“Due to poverty, many Bangladeshis are entering India illegally by road in search of work. However, terrorist groups are luring them. Ultimately, a few of the intruders are turning into sympathisers and sleeper cells, and helping the banned organisations in creating unrest in India,” a police officer said.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB), the Counter Intelligence (CI), the RPF, the GRP, the State Intelligence and the Law and Order police have sounded an alert following the arrest of the Bangladeshi nationals.

“We are probing the terror angle too as the arrested persons have no passport and are carrying multiple fake identities. The Andhra Pradesh Police will apprise the Bangladesh Embassy on the arrest of eight persons at the Rajahmundry and Vijayawada railway stations,” an investigation officer told The Hindu.

Two of the arrested, Hyder Ali Khan and Md. Hassan, have reportedly admitted that they had stayed in Bengaluru from 2017 to 2020, worked with an iron scrap dealer, and went back to Bangladesh during lockdown.

“They have returned to India with two others in June this year in search of work in Goa,” a GRP official said.

“The intruders are in possession of fake ID cards with addresses in Bengaluru. They also have mobile phones with Indian and Bangladeshi numbers. The police are trying to find out who purchased train tickets for them, how they obtained PAN cards, and the details of other intruders,” a senior police officer said.