Ernakulam Police arrested twenty-seven Bangladeshi citizens from North Paravur, Ernakulam district. The arrest was part of the ‘Operation Clean’ campaign led by Ernakulam Rural District Police Chief Vaibhav Saxena. The campaign was a follow-up operation after the arrest of 28-year-old Thaslima Begum a couple of weeks ago.
The infiltrators, who were illegally staying and working, were arrested on Friday, 30 January. It was a joint operation carried out by Ernakulam Rural District Police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad in the North Paravur area of Ernakulam district. Senior police officials stated that the Bangladeshi nationals were working at various locations under the guise of migrant workers from West Bengal. A detailed interrogation of the arrested individuals is in progress.
Following a lead, the police raided a rented house owned by one Arshad and checked the ID proofs of 54 occupants, finding that 27 of them were carrying fake identity documents. The arrested individuals were remanded in custody for 14 days. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials are interrogating them.
On 28 January, police had arrested two Bangladeshi nationals from Vennala, within Kochi Corporation limits. They were staying illegally. The arrested individuals are Mohammed Baljith (31) and Mohammed Babu (36), both from Khulna district, Bangladesh. According to police, both had been working as scrap collectors in Vennala and Palarivattom in Kochi for several years.
Initially, they claimed to be Indian citizens and submitted Aadhaar cards as proof. Baljith’s Aadhaar card carried a Bengaluru address, while Babu’s had a New Delhi address. However, upon checking their mobile phones, the police found that their Facebook accounts had been created using Bangladeshi phone numbers. Furthermore, several phone calls and WhatsApp calls had been made to other Bangladeshi numbers.
Meanwhile, two Bangladeshi women were arrested from Kodanad, Perumbavoor, in Ernakulam Rural Police District. They are Kobitiba (22) and Rubina Sheikh (19). They were arrested on 30 January for illegally staying in Ernakulam. They were found at a destitute home in Kodanad during a drive against immoral trafficking. They had crossed the border from Bangladesh into West Bengal and later travelled to Bengaluru, where they obtained fake Aadhaar cards with the help of an agent.
It has been reported that both women have been living in Kerala since February 2023, posing as natives of West Bengal. In reality, they are from Barisal and Shakthipur in Bangladesh. They have now been remanded in custody for 14 days, and the NIA and IB have interrogated them.
The increasing arrests of Bangladeshi nationals are alarming, particularly in the context of terrorism threats and the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh. It is high time the state government took stringent action against illegal migrants. Soft-pedalling and religious appeasement should be discarded.
These arrests expose a vast ecosystem that facilitates illegal migration from the source to the destination, revealing a mafia-like network connecting both ends. There are suspicions that certain Islamic institutions and leaders might be involved in facilitating this racket.
Generally, these individuals are employed for low wages in critical sectors, often working in major businesses such as the scrap trade and other unskilled labour-intensive industries. Their handlers, who control these operations, may have political connections, enabling them to conceal the identities of these illegal migrants and evade security scrutiny.
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