As many as 31 Bangladeshi nationals including eight women were detained at Guwahati railway station here on Monday.
“The group came to Guwahati from Bengaluru onboard the Guwahati-Bangalore Express. They were waiting to board the Kanchanjungha express to go to Agartala,” Superintendent of Railway Police Hemanta Kumar Das told reporters here.
“During questioning, they admitted that they were from Bangladesh and had entered India without any valid documents some four years ago and were working in Bengaluru as manual labourers,” said Das.
“Their plan was to reach Agartala and then return to Bangladesh by crossing the border,” Das added. The 31 comprised 10 men, eight women, eight boys and five girls.
Talking to Northeast Now, Iftikar Ali, Deputy Superintendent of Railway Police, Guwahati, informed that the male Bangladeshis, including children, were working in Bengaluru as rag-pickers while the women were working as maid servants in the houses of the locals and as cook, labourers, etc. in hotels.”
He also informed that they entered Assam to reach their homes in Bangladesh on the occasion of Durga Puja.
Ali further informed that they earlier did not reveal anything about themselves due to fear, but later they admitted that they have been residing in India for the last four years without any valid documents.
Their medial tests have been conducted in the Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (MMCH) here on Monday.
According to sources, the Bangladeshi nationals will be produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (M) on Tuesday.