Chandigarh: The Haryana Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) Friday detained 14 suspected Bangladeshi nationals living in India without valid documents. They have since been moved to a detention centre in Manesar.
The operation was led by the ATS, Gurugram, along with personnel of the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Nuh and Rohtak. When the team asked the 14 for papers to show they could stay in India, none could allegedly produce any. They had no passports or visas, or permission from the Union Home Ministry, officials said
ATS Superintendent of Police Varun Singla told mediapersons Saturday that intelligence agencies had given the force firm information that foreign nationals were hiding in Gurugram and nearby areas. Senior ATS officers then directed a joint operation with the SOG teams.
During the search, the police recovered Bangladeshi identity cards and other local documents from all 14, Singla said. According to him, the men had been hiding their identity while working as labourers.
A spokesperson for Gurugram Police told ThePrint that the operation was carried out in view of the Government of India’s directives and national security concerns.
“The operation was carried out on the basis of secret intelligence inputs and detailed investigations,” the spokesperson said.
The police have identified the detainees as Mohammad Raju Mian (20), Sakib Hussain (18), Ilyas Ali (18), Mohammad Feruz Islam (19), Mohammad Anarul Haque (30), Sakib Rana (19), Ghulam Rabbani (23), Mohammad Jewel Rana (20), Anwar Hussain (37), Ariful alias Alauddin (22), Mohammad Masud Rana (27) and Raju Alam (28). Two others, both 17, are not being named in this report.
The police said the men come from different districts of Bangladesh.
A case has been registered against all 14 under the Foreigners Act, and further legal action is under way, Singla said. The police will contact the Bangladesh High Commission to verify their nationality and documents. Once that is done, the process to send them back to Bangladesh will begin, he added.
Second such detention in 5 months
This is the second such action in Gurugram in about five months. Earlier, the city police’s crime branch had caught 13 suspected Bangladeshi nationals who were living in India without valid papers. The police deported them with the help of the home ministry.
That investigation had found that the 13 entered India illegally through the Kaliganj border with the help of a Bangladeshi agent. They then allegedly crossed several states before reaching Gurugram, where they lived as labourers.
Singla said national security would not be compromised at any level, and that the drive to identify foreign nationals living in India illegally would continue. He also appealed to landlords in the city to have any foreign national renting a room undergo police verification before renting.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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