Mumbai Police Deports 112 Illegal Bangladeshi Nationals, Year’s Tally Reaches 719

Mumbai: In a major crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), police on Thursday deported 112 people, 92 from Mumbai and 20 from Mira-Bhayander and Thane.

According to a report by The Indian Express citing official documents, the immigrants were first taken to Pune on Wednesday and then transported to the Assam-Bangladesh border in a special Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft on Thursday, where they were handed over to Bangladesh security forces.

719 Deportations In Mumbai Alone

With Thursday’s action, deportations from Mumbai alone have reached 719 this year, compared to 152 in the entire year of 2024, a senior police officer said. The documents reveal the illegal immigrants were detained from across Mumbai between June 12 and August 5. Of the 92 from Mumbai, 40 were women, 34 children, and 18 men. The breakup of the 20 detained from Mira-Bhayander and Thane was not available.

“This time the government decided to drop the illegal immigrants at the Assam-Bangladesh border, which is heavily secured and manned by the Indian Army, making illegal re-entry almost impossible. They were handed over to the Bangladesh border security force,” a police officer stated as quoted by The Indian Express.

Another officer confirmed that between January 1 and August 5, Mumbai Police deported 719 Bangladeshi nationals found staying illegally in the city. Most were detained in the last week of July after being found to have violated visa norms and entered India illegally through the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Series Of Crackdown On Illegal Immigrants In Mumbai

A senior IPS officer said they were deported under Section 3(2)(c) of the Foreigners Act, 1946, after completing all legal procedures. The first deportation of the year took place in February when 12 people were sent back.

The crackdown intensified after the January 16 arrest of Shariful Islam, a Bangladeshi national accused of attacking actor Saif Ali Khan in his Bandra residence, who was found with a duplicate Aadhaar card and an illegally procured Indian SIM card.

Police said the operation began after informants tipped them off about suspicious individuals at building construction sites. Suspects were called to police stations, and evidence such as call records to Bangladesh and suspicious bank transactions was gathered before detentions were made.

The data shows that Amboli in Andheri recorded the highest number of arrests, with 11 immigrants caught. In at least four cases, only mothers were found living illegally with their minor children.

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