On Tuesday 12th July 2022, the Karnataka police arrested 7 illegal Bangladeshi nationals from the Ramanagara districts. The Bangladeshi nationals were illegally staying in Karnataka and working in a garment company called Link App Garments in Basvanapura village. Fake Indian IDs were found with the Bangladeshi nationals. This gang is said to have entered India through Assam. On getting a tip, the Karnataka police arrested 7 of them and further investigations in this case are going on.
While talking to news agency ANI, Santosh Babu, SP Ramanagara said, “Ramanagara rural police arrested seven Bangladeshi nationals who were living & working here with fake ID proofs. They were working in a garment factory. They had Odisha, West Bengal & Assam ID cards.”
Karnataka | Ramanagara rural police arrested seven Bangladeshi nationals who were living & working here with fake ID proofs. They were working in a garment factory. They had Odisha, West Bengal & Assam ID cards: Santosh Babu, SP Ramanagara (12.07) pic.twitter.com/ysn4pRqiZg
— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2022
Using these identity cards, they had secured jobs in Karnataka. According to a report by the Republic World, Ramanagara Superintendent of Police Santhosh Babu said, “We got a tip-off about Bangladeshi nationals working in Ramnagara. We have arrested 7 Bangladesh nationals, who were working in a garment factory. They reached Ramanagara on the 1st of June. They had Indian Aadhaar cards. We will question the garment factory owner regarding the criteria on which they had appointed them to the garment company. We are investigating further to trace the network.”
The arrested illegal Bangladeshi nationals have been identified as Sohail Rana, Zulfiqar, Ujjal, Munazil, Mussa Shaik, Raheem, and Arif. According to the police, the Bangladeshis had illegally entered Assam in May this year, and had got Aadhaar cards in their names made through a broker using an address in Assam. From Assam they first went to Doddaballpur in Karnataka, from where they moved to Ramanagara. They secured jobs at a garments factory in Ramanagara. They were staying at a rented place there.
Ramanagar SP K. Santosh Babu said that the all seven persons have admitted that they entered Indian illegally, and they reached Karnataka with the help of a broker. Police have also recovered documents from them proving their Bangladeshi origin. All of them will be shifted to the Bengaluru detention centre after the interrogations. Police teams are searching for the broker that helped them.
It is also being probed whether these people came to Karnataka for jobs only, or had they arrived in India and took the jobs on a different conspiracy.
It is notable that, in May 2022, the Bengaluru police launched an identification campaign to track down Bangladeshi immigrants working as domestic workers, garbage collectors, or ragpickers, and file charges against them if they are found to be illegal immigrants.