Police raid illegal Bangladeshi immigrants around Whitefield, Electronics City

BENGALURU: In a major crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the city, the Whitefield Police conducted searches at nearly 50 locations around Whitefield and Electronics City since 4 am and took 19 illegal Bangladeshi migrants into custody. Some of them are from Bagerhat, Khulna district of Bangladesh and had fake Aadhaar cards claiming to from West Bengal and Assam.

The Operation carried out under the name ‘Operation Mukta’ and raids were conducted in several areas including Whitefield, Kadugodi, Marathahalli, Bellandur, Varthur, and Mahadevapura in Bengaluru to identify illegally settled Bangladeshi migrants.

The raid was led by Whitefield DCP Saidulu Adavath and nearly 300 policemen and officers conducted searches at all sheds around Whitefield and verified documents of suspicious persons like Aadhaar cards, voter IDs and other original documents. The operation was carried out by the DCP, two ACPs, and six Inspectors.

Illegal Bangladeshi migrants were living in sheds and working in nearby companies, hospitals, and other places. The migrants were involved in housekeeping, plastic recycling, cleaning, and small jobs. Police conducted raids and inspections early in the morning before they went to work.

In Varthur, raids conducted at a total of 30 locations by 500 police personnel and four suspected Bangladeshi nationals taken into custody while documents of more than 40 people were verified.

In Electronics City sub-division, the migrant task force under DCP M Narayan fanned out in 23 special teams and took 1,909 illegal migrants into custody illegal migrants from 29 locations. Among them, 15 were confirmed to be illegal Bangladeshi migrants who had fake Aadhaar cards claiming West Bengal and Assam origin. The 15 people are from Bagerhat, Khulna district of Bangladesh who had illegally crossed into India.

The documents of 1,894 illegal migrants were verified and the joint operation was conducted by 295 police officers and staff. Visas, passports and nationality documents of suspects were verified. “Some people scare and threaten them and extort money. If you know someone is a Bangladeshi national, you should inform the police. Legal action will be taken if moral policing is done”, said Electronics City DCP Narayan.