Nine illegal Bangladeshi migrants, including a woman and two children, were held here Saturday, police said.
The nine Bangladeshis were detained by the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Guwahati as they did not have any valid document to enter India.
GRP official N.C. Das told that the nine admitted to having entered Indian territory illegally by crossing the international border in Tripura.
“They crossed the border on March 7 and reached Agartala and from there they headed to Badarpur in Karimganj district. From Badarpur, they came to Lumding in central Assam’s Nagaon district,” said Das while adding that from Lumding they took the Kanchanjungha Express to Guwahati.
“The GRP patrolling party at the Guwahati railway station in Paltan Bazaar spotted the Bangladeshi nationals and after interrogation, they admitted that they entered India by crossing the border in Tripura,” said Das.
“They were on their way to Alipurduar in north Bengal to work at the construction sites there,” the GRP official said adding that three mobile handsets and some Bangladeshi currency were recovered from their possession.
The Bangladeshi nationals will be produced before the Foreigners’ Tribunal on Monday.
Illegal infiltration from neighbouring Bangladesh has been a serious problem for Assam and other northeastern states.
Various students’ bodies of the region including the powerful North East Students’ Organization (NESO) have been demanding sealing of the porous India-Bangladesh border in the region as infiltration has not only created a demographic threat to the region but also posed a threat to national security.
