Guwahati, Oct 11: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said 12 Bangladeshi nationals, including three children, were apprehended in Goalpara district for illegally entering India, while he suspected the involvement of a human trafficking and infiltration network.
In a graphic description shared along with a social media post, the CM said the apprehensions were made after a local spotted some people wandering and crying in panic on Friday night.
Members of the group, comprising nine adults and three children, said they were brought to India via Jaflong in Meghalaya on October 5 by a broker named Sabor, Sarma said in the social media post on Saturday night.
“Later, a Khasi person accompanying the broker took them to Guwahati, where they were kept for three days,” he said, adding the broker fled from near Guwahati railway station after allegedly taking 7,000 Bangladeshi Taka and a mobile phone from the group.
Later, the group reached Goalpara by bus on Friday night and was eventually spotted by the local, Sarma said.
“The broker allegedly showed them video calls of other Bangladeshi nationals working in a company in Guwahati and promised them jobs,” the CM said.
For nine adults, a deal of Rs 20,000 per person was to be taken from the company owner and adjusted from wages, he added.
“A human trafficking and illegal migration angle is suspected. Authorities are investigating further,” Sarma said.
“While these unwarranted guests will be dealt with accordingly, we will hunt down their hosts here and treat them with the right provisions of Indian law. We remain alert, as always,” he added.
Assam’s Sribhumi, Cachar, Dhubri and South Salmara-Mankachar districts share 267.5 km of international border with Bangladesh.
There is an integrated check post (ICP) at Sutarkandi in Sribhumi. Northeast has a total of three ICPs along the India-Bangladesh border, the other two being at Dawki in Meghalaya and Akhaura in Tripura.
There is another ICP in the region at Darranga in Assam along the India-Bhutan border.
Assam Police had earlier said the state force and BSF would do everything possible to prevent infiltration from Bangladesh.
