Bangladeshi man held, sent back for illegally entering India: Assam CM

Guwahati, Sep 11: A Bangladeshi national was arrested by the Assam Police for illegally entering India and was sent back to his native country by the security personnel, said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday. In a post on X, he wrote, "In another alert move by @assampolice, one Bangladeshi national, Toyu Shaikh, was intercepted and pushed back to Bangladesh at 1:45 a.m."

"Our forces are on high alert at the border and we will prevent any attempt of infiltration into Indian territory," he added. Chief Minister Sarma asserted that infiltration attempts from Bangladesh have spiked up in the last few months and the security forces have been extra alert to thwart the moves of infiltrators. He earlier announced a slew of measures to deal with the infiltration issue from Bangladesh which has seen a spike in the last few days.

CM Sarma shared data which showed from January this year till now, a total of 54 illegal immigrants have been detected 48 in the Karimganj district, 4 in Bongaigaon district, and one each in Dima Hasao and Dhubri district.

"Of these, 45 individuals were successfully pushed back into their country of origin, while nine were arrested in Karimganj. Additionally, there have been reports of suspected non-Indian nationals and foreign origin individuals in certain areas of the state, particularly in upper Assam and north Assam districts. The detection of such individuals is critical, given the potential threat to national security," the Chief Minister said.

He also added that the Assam Police was directed to take all necessary preventive and precautionary measures to intensify detection and proactively curb the movement of illegal migrants while taking steps to repatriate these individuals. Earlier on Monday, Assam Police foiled another attempt at illegal infiltration from Bangladesh and two persons hailing from the neighbouring country were arrested and pushed back by the security personnel.

The two individuals were identified as Shahadat Hussain and Priyanka Gain. The duo was arrested in the Karimganj district along the India-Bangladesh border in Assam.