In a significant development amid escalating political tensions over the infiltration issue, police in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district arrested 22 Rohingya infiltrators from the Indo-Bangladesh border area near Baduria on Friday night. The arrest has sparked concerns over internal security and the role of border patrol forces. According to official sources, the group comprised 11 adults — both men and women — and 11 children. They were discovered hiding in an under-construction house in Lavanga village, located just five kilometers from the international border.
The infiltration came to light when villagers spotted unfamiliar faces in an under-construction building in the area. Alarmed by their presence, residents informed the Baduria Police Station. Police immediately reached the scene and cordoned off the building. After preliminary surveillance, the 11 adults were taken into custody and arrested following interrogation.
Initial investigations revealed that the group had allegedly assembled in Lavanga with the intention of crossing back into Bangladesh to return to Rohingya refugee camps. However, authorities are still verifying this claim.
The police have learned that all 22 individuals are originally from Myanmar. They first crossed into Bangladesh, residing in Rohingya camps there, before illegally entering India. They had been living in Hyderabad for the past 10 years — some with families, others alone — and had even found employment.
Sources say the group fled Hyderabad recently, fearing arrest amid a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants, especially Bangladeshi nationals. “They travelled by train to Basirhat in North 24 Parganas and stayed briefly before relocating to Lavanga. On Thursday night, they arrived in three diesel-powered auto-rickshaws and took shelter in the under-construction building, where they were ultimately found,” said a police officer.
Antu Khan, a local resident, said, “The house belongs to a man named Jahangir. They came here at night in autos. I spoke with some of them and learned that they are from Myanmar. They speak Burmese or Hindi, not Bengali. They said they planned to return to Bangladesh with the help of brokers. Naturally, we’re worried. If infiltrators can gather like this, what does it say about our internal security?”
The incident has triggered sharp criticism and growing unease among locals, who have questioned the effectiveness of the Border Security Force (BSF), which is tasked with guarding the frontier.
Basirhat Police District Superintendent Hossain Mehdi Rahman confirmed that none of the detained individuals possessed valid documents. “We are conducting detailed interrogations to uncover how they entered the country and through whom. A full-scale investigation is underway,” he said.
As political debates intensify around border security and immigration, this case is likely to add further fuel to the fire, raising urgent questions about cross-border infiltration, enforcement lapses and the safety of India’s border communities.
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