Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Police has formed a dedicated special team to track down Bangladeshi middlemen, who facilitate illegal entry of people from the neighbouring country.
This came after 10 Bangladeshi infiltrators, including six men, three women, and a juvenile, were arrested by Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch at the Bhubaneswar railway station here on March 9. They were unlawfully staying in Bhubaneswar after crossing over the country’s border near Dhuburi in Assam. They carried no passport, visa or any valid travel document.
The subsequent investigation and interrogation of Md Hasim, one among those arrested, during two-day police remand on March 27-28 revealed involvement of a racket t
hat facilitated infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals through Indo-Bangla border in Assam. The Bangladeshi citizens crossed the border at night and were charged around Rs 35,000 a person. Those keen to return to Bangladesh had to cough up additional Rs 30,000. The operation ‘border par’ would begin once the amount was transferred to the middleman via PhonePay.
Hasim reportedly identified another middleman, Jagdish Das, who arranged fake Aadhaar cards, Voter IDs and other documents for the Bangladeshi infiltrators. Scientific evidence confirmed the systematic issuance of these fraudulent documents to Bangladeshi nationals.
“Hasim, who hails from Bangladesh, was the kingpin and he would help infiltrators travel in bus and temp after crossing into India. Over the past two years, this operation has flourished, with Hasim earning commissions for his role. Jagdish Das was the other mediator along the Assam border in this commission system,” STF SP Rabinarayan Satpathy told a presser on Saturday.
He informed them police teams will soon leave for Assam and also Delhi and Bangalore, where 40 such infiltrators have been identified and placed under surveillance.
Meanwhile, intelligence officials have intensified surveillance along Odisha’s coastline, spanning 480-km that has frequently been exploited as a passage for illegal infiltration.