Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants rising out of control; couple owning RC book, licence and land in Kerala arrested

KOCHI: It was already discovered that Bangladeshi nationals have infiltrated the migrant workers coming to Kerala. 37 Bangladeshis have been arrested from Ernakulam Rural district this year alone as part of the Operation Clean project. The Bangladeshi couple Dasharath Banerjee (38) and his wife Mari Bibi (33), who were arrested by the police from Njarakkal in Ernakulam on Friday, are in police custody.

The shocking thing is that the couple, who have been living in Kerala for ages by forging documents, have land registered in the state under their names! They had bought land in the Paravur area and registered it. They were living in a house named 'Odassery Veedu' built with tin sheets on that land, Njarakkal SHO Sunil Thomas told Kerala Kaumudi Online.

The official said that they will investigate in detail how they managed to buy land in Kerala. The two were arrested during an inspection conducted as part of the Operation Clean project led by Ernakulam Rural District Police Chief Dr. Vaibhav Saxena. A driving license from Kerala, a copy of the vehicle's RC book, and a certificate given by a ward member have also been found from them. The police are preparing for a detailed investigation into the incident.

The police had arrested 27 Bangladeshis from Mannam recently. With the arrest of so many illegal immigrants, the situation is such that it is not possible to identify which are the originals and which are fakes among those arriving from other states. The credibility of the identity documents provided by the other state workers arriving in Kerala is also being questioned. Concerns have increased with the arrest of so many Bangladeshis at the same time.

They arrived by making fake Aadhaar cards. The arrested persons told the police that they have agents in Bangladesh to arrange these. Migrant workers from other states and countries are coming to Kerala in droves from other states and countries because they can get higher wages here. The police also suspect that some of them are criminals.

Reports had been made earlier in the national media that deportees from Bangladesh were infiltrating from Dhaka to Kolkata and from there to various parts of India. The process of collecting information and registering the migrant workers was done earlier. However, with people arriving in Kerala every day, the registration scheme seems to have failed.