Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
As the BJP government in West Bengal intensifies its crackdown on illegal immigration, police in South 24 Parganas district detained 18 Bangladeshi nationals, including six children, officials said on Wednesday.
The detainees were picked up on Tuesday night after police acted on a tip-off.
According to preliminary questioning, all 18 individuals claimed to be residents of Bangladesh and admitted to entering India illegally by crossing the border fencing with the help of agents.
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Police sources said the group had reportedly been living in Kultali for the past three to three-and-a-half years. Some of them were allegedly employed at local brick kilns.
Identity documents and backgrounds of the 18 detainees will now be verified.
Once the verification process is completed, they will be transferred to a designated holding centre, from where administrative procedures for their repatriation to Bangladesh will be initiated, the sources added.
The latest detentions come amid an intensified statewide crackdown on illegal immigration following the Bengal government’s decision to adopt a tougher approach towards undocumented Bangladeshi and Rohingya nationals.
On May 23, the state’s Home and Hill Affairs Department’s Foreigners’ Branch issued an order on May 23 directing all district administrations to establish holding centres for foreign nationals awaiting deportation.
The directive instructed district magistrates to create facilities for both “apprehended foreigners” and “released foreign prisoners” until the legal process for deportation and repatriation is completed.
The order effectively formalised the state government’s “Detect, Detain and Deport” policy by creating a structured mechanism to house undocumented foreign nationals before they are sent back to their home countries.
Authorities have since begun setting up and activating holding centres across multiple districts.
From border regions such as Murshidabad and North 24 Parganas to Siliguri in north Bengal, local administrations have been identifying facilities where detainees can be housed pending verification and deportation proceedings.
With the latest operation, Kultali has also been added to the list of locations linked to the state’s expanding detention and repatriation framework.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
