Amid a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Mumbai police have deported 1,001 Bangladeshi nationals till November 17 this year—over six times the number of people deported last year and more than 16 times the figure deported in 2023.
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According to the data provided by the Mumbai police on Monday, a total of 1,001 cumulative deportations have taken place since January this year in a total of 401 cases registered by the police.
An official said in some cases, the police are registering FIRs and taking court permission and deporting Bangladeshi nationals while in other cases, the police are using special provisions in the law to deport them directly.
As per data, a total of 304 Bangladeshi nationals were arrestedon the charges of illegal immigration last year, of whom 160 were deported. In 2023, the Mumbai police arrested 371 illegal Bangladeshi nationals, of whom 60 were deported.
According to Mumbai police, there has been a change in the strategy for forces across the country where they have started directly deporting the Bangladeshi nationals instead ofregistering formal FIRs and allowing trial in every case.
Describing the details of the operation, a senior police officer said once their informants tipped them about suspicious people at construction sites across the city, they were summoned to the police station.
Immigrants from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region are usually taken to Pune , from where they are later transported to the Assam-Bangladesh border in a special Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft and handed over to the security forces of Bangladesh.
Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had directed forces across the country to deport illegal Bangladeshis.The deportation started in February this year when the first lot of 12 people were sent back across the border. The crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi nationals in Mumbai gained momentum after the arrest of Shariful Islam, a Bangladeshi national who allegedly attacked Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan inside his Bandra residence on January 16 this year. Shariful was found to have a duplicate Aadhaar card with his photo and an Indian SIM card, which he allegedly procured illegally in India.
