B'luru cops step up drive against illegal Bangladeshi migrants

Bengaluru: The drive against illegal Bangladeshi migrants has been intensified following a tip from the NIA that terror outfit Jamat-ul-Mujahidin Bangladesh is setting up base in South India, especially in Bengaluru, and some other parts of the State, police said on Monday.

As many as 60 illegal Bangladeshi migrants living in shanties around Bengaluru and doing menial jobs, were recently detained, they said.

They were nabbed from Marathahalli, Ramamurthy Nagar, HAL, KR Puram, Bellandur and other places, police said, adding that these people will be deported.

“Our drive is going on. We had information about the 60 people whom we detained day-before-yesterday,” Additional Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil told PTI.

When asked how many illegal Bangladeshi migrants could be staying in the city, Patil said he cannot speculate.

“As and when we get information, we will act,” he added.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had recently busted one of the modules of the JMB in and around Bengaluru and seized many materials including improvised explosive devices.

The NIA during its national conference had sounded an alert against growing activities of the JMB, which was involved in the Burdwan bomb blast in West Bengal, and asked the southern states to be cautious about the outfit’s operations.

Following this, the Karnataka government decided to set up a Bengaluru-specific Anti-Terror Squad.

While making an announcement about the ATS, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said there was a possibility of more than 20 such groups being active in the state and ordered a crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Bengaluru.