KENDRAPARA: Police on Sunday apprehended 18 suspected Muslim Bangladeshi nationals residing illegally at different places in the coastal district.
Two suspected Bangladeshi nationals were rounded up from Rajendranarayanpur and Rangani villages within Talachua Marine police limits. Another 16 illegal immigrants were apprehended from Kereragada and Gopalpur villages in Rajnagar area. These people were caught on basis of sustained ground-level intelligence and they could not produce valid documents to prove their Indian citizenship, said police.
“We suspect that these foreign nationals entered India illegally through unauthorised riverine routes and were residing in coastal pockets of the district without valid documents. All the detainees failed to establish their Indian nationality during interrogation. They have been lodged in a detention centre. Further investigation is underway,” said IIC of Rajnagar police station Naresh Sahoo.
All illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and other countries will not be spared. Police have formed a team to identify and apprehend foreign nationals staying illegally in the district without valid documents. The move is necessary for national security, Sahoo added.
Earlier on June 9, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had directed the district administration to take strict legal action against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants during a review meeting at Kendrapara.
In March this year, the chief minister had informed the Odisha Assembly that a total of 3,738 Bangladeshi infiltrators were identified in the state. The highest number of 1,649 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were residing in Kendrapara followed by 1,112 in Jagatsinghpur, 655 in Malkangiri, 199 in Bhadrak, 106 in Nabarangpur and 17 in Bhubaneswar.
Notably in 2005, the state government had served ‘Quit India’ notices to 1,551 suspected Bangladeshi immigrants who illegally entered India and settled in coastal pockets of Kendrapara.