Illegal Infiltration: ED Seizes Fake Aadhaars, Forged Passports, Arms, Cash & More During Raids In Jharkhand & Bengal

Kolkata/Ranchi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized several incriminating items including fake Aadhaar cards, forged passports, illegal arms, immovable property documents, cash, jewellery, printing papers, printing machines, and blank proformas used for forging Aadhaar while conducting searches in connection to illegal infiltration from Bangladesh in poll-bound Jharkhand and West Bengal on Tuesday. The enforcement agency sleuths conducted searches at 17 locations in both the states.

The sleuths from the agency’s Jharkhand office conducted the raids to examine the money laundering activities linked to the illegal infiltration from Bangladesh.

In September, the agency had filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to investigate the infiltration and trafficking of certain Bangladeshi women into Jharkhand, which resulted in the production of claimed slush money, reported the Hindustan Times.

The case was filed on the basis of the complaint of a lady who reportedly sneaked into the Indian side from across the Bangla border with the help of touts to find work. She had allegedly listed about five to six women as culprits, who were apprehended during a raid at a local resort, reports claimed.

Poll politics in Jharkhand & infiltration

The first phase of elections in Jharkhand is scheduled on Wednesday. The second phase is scheduled for November 20. The votes will be counted on November 23. Meanwhile, infiltration issue has taken the centre stage in the poll-bound state.

During the poll campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders trained guns at the state government in Jharkhand for allegedly aiding such infiltration leading to the altering of the demographic landscape of the tribal-dominated areas of Santhal Pargana and Kolhan regions. Speaking on the infiltration issue, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that the infiltrators were taking away Jharkhand’s food and jobs. He made the remark while addressing a rally at Dhanbad.

Amit Shah’s Vow: ‘Won’t allow reservations for Muslims’

“They marry tribal women 2-3 times and take over their land. When BJP comes to power, we will find and deport every infiltrator from here,” Shah said, as quoted by Free Press Journal. The minister also attacked the Congress at the same rally by calling it ‘an anti-reservation party.’ “They want to end reservations for backward classes and Dalits to provide it to Muslims. As long as there’s even one BJP MLA, we won’t allow reservations for Muslims,” Shah said.