The deportation of three suspected Bangladesh nationals with Indian passports from Dubai is the second such incident in three weeks to be reported at the Kochi airport.
The three were detained at the Cochin international airport at Nedumbassery on Thursday morning after their deportation. The accused are Ajay Chowdhury, 30, Shubro Barua, 30, and Avi Mukherjee, 24. According to the police, they hail from Chittagong in Bangladesh.
Shamual Mandel, another Bangladesh national who was deported on November 24 from Kuwait, was also found to possess valid Indian documents. He is now in jail after being remanded. He had gone to Kuwait via Mumbai hoping that an Indian background would help him have better prospects in West Asia.
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“We will be sending a team shortly to Kolkata to investigate how he managed to secure Indian documents, including passport. We have also written to the Kolkata City Police Commissioner seeking details of the police officer who had done the passport verification as he will also have to be arraigned as an accused,” said district Crime Branch sources investigating the case.
In both cases, the narrative played out somewhat similar as all the four deported had managed to secure valid Indian documents, including passports, pan cards, Aadhaar cards, and voter’s identity cards allegedly with the help of agents based in West Bengal.
Crime Branch sources said the role of a Kolkata-based racket had to be suspected behind such shady deals. However, Crime Branch sources said the rather lenient penal measures taken after being charged under the Passports Act did not serve as an effective deterrent to check the recurrence of such cases. Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies have confirmed the possibility of Bangladesh nationals intruding into the large migrant workforce within the Ernakulam Rural Police limits, including the plywood industry hub of Perumbavoor, in the guise of West Bengal residents by securing Indian documents in the same manner.
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Only recently, the Rural Police had tightened surveillance of the migrant community following the arrest of three suspected Bodo militants from a plywood factory near Perumbavoor.
The police also had received intelligence reports to the effect that illegal migrants, especially Rohingya, might move to various places in south India, particularly Kerala.
The migrant corridor between Kerala and West Bengal has led to the flow of Bangladesh nationals with Indian documents to migrant-intense places in Aluva.