The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has continued its crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi nationals staying in Kerala, arresting another Bangladeshi citizen in Kozhikode on July 29. However, the man who had accompanied the arrested individual managed to flee, and the ATS could not nab him.
The arrested man has been identified as Mohammed Hassan, a native of Kusthiya in Bangladesh’s Khulna district. His accomplice escaped during the operation and remains absconding.
The ATS reached Mavoor in Kozhikode based on specific intelligence inputs. During the raid, officials seized Bangladeshi identity documents and Bangladeshi currency. Hassan was arrested from a rented house at Kayalam Market.
Mohammed Hassan and his friend had recently moved into the rented house. There is unconfirmed information that another associate of Hassan had also stayed there. Police are trying to trace and arrest him. Hassan has been taken to the Mavoor Police Station for further interrogation.
The latest arrest is part of the ongoing statewide crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi nationals. More than 60 Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested in Kerala during recent operations conducted by the Kerala Police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) targeting undocumented immigrants.
Illegal Bangladeshi Infiltration
In recent weeks alone, Kerala Police and the ATS have detained several Bangladeshi nationals from different parts of the state:
Kozhikode (Mavoor): Three Bangladeshi nationals were detained from a migrant labour camp. Intelligence agencies reportedly began examining possible links to forged Aadhaar cards and illegally procured SIM cards.
Kochi (Eroor): Six Bangladeshi nationals were arrested from a scrap shop where investigators alleged they were living and working using forged Indian identity documents.
Kochi (Palarivattom): Ten more Bangladeshi nationals were rounded up during verification drives near Stadium Link Road.
Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala ATS arrested more than fifteen Bangladeshi nationals and uncovered an alleged fake-document network involving forged Aadhaar cards, voter IDs and other identity records.
Investigators believe these cases are not isolated incidents but part of organised networks allegedly linked to a strong mosque-centric ecosystem that facilitates illegal entry, movement, shelter, forged identity documents, and employment across multiple states.
Officials have repeatedly found forged Aadhaar cards, fake voter identity cards, counterfeit ration cards, illegally obtained SIM cards and fabricated employment records during such operations.
Kerala Part of a Wider National Pattern
Kerala is not the only state witnessing such arrests. Across India, security agencies have intensified crackdowns on illegal Bangladeshi infiltration:
West Bengal has deported around 4,800 illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators, while hundreds more await repatriation.
Gujarat’s Operation Delta Hunt resulted in the arrest of 362 illegal Bangladeshi nationals during a 72-hour statewide operation.
Similar crackdowns have been reported in Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Assam, Tripura, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, indicating that illegal migration networks operate well beyond India’s eastern border.
The recurring recovery of forged identity documents has prompted intelligence agencies to investigate the existence of organised document-forgery syndicates that enable infiltrators to blend into local populations.
