Kolkata, March 14 – Two Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested at the India-Bangladesh international border in the North 24 Parganas district for allegedly entering the country illegally, a senior district police officer said on Saturday.
According to police, the two individuals were apprehended near the border in the Hakimpur border area, under the jurisdiction of the Swarupnagar Police Station in North 24 Parganas district.
The accused have been identified as Vivek Mandal and Nazrul Islam.
Police said the two individuals drew the attention of patrol personnel while they were allegedly loitering in the border area late at night. Becoming suspicious of their movements, the police detained them for questioning.
During interrogation, the two reportedly admitted that they were from Bangladesh and had crossed the border illegally to enter India. Following the questioning, the Swarupnagar Police arrested them.
The arrested individuals were produced before the Basirhat Sub-divisional Court on Saturday.
“Two persons have been arrested. They are from Bangladesh and came to the country illegally. Following questioning, they confessed that they entered the country illegally. Investigation is on,” said an officer of the North 24 Parganas district police.
Notably, several Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested in West Bengal amid the backdrop of the state's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of its electoral rolls.
After the SIR process began, it was observed that some Bangladeshi nationals living in different parts of West Bengal without valid documents started leaving the country, police sources said.
In fact, as many as 45 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested from the Hakimpur sector alone last year. Since then, several individuals have been apprehended from this border region on multiple occasions.
The BJP has been claiming that a large number of Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas have been living in West Bengal after entering the country illegally. The party has demanded the SIR exercise to identify such individuals in the electoral rolls and send them back to their country.