Nadia: About 10 B’deshis arrested

Kolkata: Ten Bangladeshis, including six women, were apprehended along with newborns from Kulgachhi village in West Bengal’s Nadia district on Monday, a senior police officer said.

According to Somnath Jha, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Border), the arrests were made by Dhantala police under Ranaghat Police District during a routine surveillance operation in the border area.

The group was intercepted while attempting to return to Bangladesh illegally.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the Bangladeshi nationals had illegally entered Indian territory nearly a year ago with the help of an Indian tout and had been residing in Gujarat since then. They had recently returned to Dhantala with the intention of going back to their home country, Jha said. A case has been registered against them under the relevant sections of the Foreigners Act and other applicable laws.

All the accused were produced before the Ranaghat court on Monday. Efforts are on to trace and apprehend the Indian tout and his associates involved in facilitating the illegal cross-border movement, the officer added. This was not the first such incident in the area. On May 9, Dhantala police had apprehended another group of 16 Bangladeshi nationals along with seven newborns while they were attempting to return to their country.