430 illegal Bangladeshis arrested in city this year

The special branch of the Mumbai police has till May this year arrested more than 400 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. According to sources, the number is set to cross the record number of illegal immigrants in the last two years.

Officials in the special branch of the Mumbai police said that from January to May 2016, 430 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh have been found and arrested. In 2015, the number was 1,037 and in 2014, only 504 were found and held.

“We have made many changes to the process of issuing showcause notices to the immigrants once they are arrested,” said an officer of the special branch-2, which looks after Pakistan and Bangladesh immigration. The showcause notices (SCN) are served to illegal immigrants after they are arrested. But officials found that many would reuse these SCNs. “The SCN, previously, only had the name and other details of the accused and it would be issued to the illegal immigrant after his arrest. But we noticed that many residents once caught would produce SCNs claiming that they had a case already going on. But our records never showed their names. Further investigation revealed that many illegal immigrants would make photocopies of the SCN document and distribute it among others, he said.

To avoid this, officials decided to add a picture of the accused being given the SCN. “We have digitalised SCN and since January they have a scanned picture of the accused on it. This means now the accused cannot misuse the SCNs,” the officer said.

Meanwhile, sources claimed that the growing number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants is a cause of concern. “Our estimates show that there are nearly five lakh illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the city. They obtain valid identification records and continue staying here and are mostly involved in illegal activities like prostitution and gambling,” an officer said on the condition of anonymity.