Tura, Nov 22: Despite months of turmoil in neighbouring Bangladesh and multiple attempts by Bangladeshis to flee the country into India, leading to several arrests, the vigil on the Garo Hills border remains weak with police on Thursday apprehending five Bangladeshis who sneaked in and were being transported to Assam.
The arrests took place during a late night frisking of vehicles in Zikzak region of South West Garo Hills around 11:42 of November 21 night.
Police flagged down a Bolero Pik Up truck near the KGBV School in Zikzak, that had five passengers and was passing through the area. The vehicle was coming from the border area of Gopinath Killa.
On being questioned, the driver, identified as Md. Nur Hussain of Kalapani, Mankachar, claimed he was ferrying passengers towards Hatsingimari in Assam. The men also displayed Indian Aadhar cards in their possession.
Suspecting something wasn’t right, the police hauled then up to Zikzak police outpost for verification.
On being checked through the Aadhar app their Aadhar cards were found to be invalid.
On being interrogated it was revealed that they crossed over after breaching the border fencing somewhere near Baghmara in South Garo Hills.
All five men hailed from Nawabganj in Rajshahi district of Bangladesh.
To avoid detection, they were proceeding at night towards Hatsingimari in Assam with plans to go to Kolkata city to seek work as labourers when they were intercepted at Zikzak.
The latest detection and arrests once again show the scale of the influx situation taking place in Garo Hills, from across the border.
The border road between Nilwagiri and Rasnagiri towards Baghmara in South Garo Hills is suspected to be a major point for Bangladeshis to illegally enter India.
Absence of BSF patrolling at that stretch has given scope for Bangladeshis to move freely without any restrictions and are noticible even during the day time by Indian commuters who use the border road.
