While the exodus of North-Easterners tapered off, police are maintaining an eagle’s eye on illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the state, including in the city. While there is no official number, an estimated 50,000 Bangladeshis stay in the state. Police say that surveillance and regular deportation is a continuous process. In 2007, the estimated number of Bangladeshis in the state was around 1 lakh. In 2011, several Bangladeshis were arrested for indulging in crime. There were also instances of Bangladesh nationals working at construction sites and were later deported. A senior police official said that in many cases, the suspects claim to be from West Bengal. “There can’t be an official figure on Bangladeshis staying illegally in the state. The surveillance is on while many have been deported. Most of them were construction labourers,’’ he said.
For police, it is a difficult task to verify as the suspects not only speak Bengali, but dress the same and mix easily with construction workers from Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa. About four years ago, the State had around one lakh Bangladeshi nationals and many also possessed voter ID cards. During interrogation of terror suspects, police got to know that it cost less than Rs 1,000 to cross the border, either into West Bengal or Assam.
“These immigrants sneak into the country through villages like Malda and Murshidabad where apparently, the line of control is mixed-up. The vast porous border which runs into thousands of kms, is also a zone from where they sneak in. They frequently travel in groups and usually, one or two in a group will be an illegal migrant,’’ an official said. Several Bangladeshis arrested in the city in 2011 also stated that they sneaked in from the porous border. In September 2011, a few women who were brought from Bangladesh luring them with were rescued. One of the victims had approached the police. The accused Mohammed Babu Bisas had brought women through the porous border by promising them of jobs and later forced them to indulge in fresh trade.