Kolkata, April 2 (IANS) As many as 14 Bangladeshi infiltrators were arrested by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on the New Delhi-bound North-East Express train.

The arrests were made late Wednesday night at Jalpaiguri Road Station. Of the 14 arrested, five are women, and four are minors. Fake Indian identity documents, including fake Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, Indian mobile SIM cards, and Malaysian Ringgit, have been seized during their processions.

The state is heading for a two-phase Assembly election later this month. Before that, questions have been raised about the purpose and on whose advice these Bangladeshi infiltrators entered India through the international borders in neighbouring Assam and were subsequently heading for the national capital via West Bengal. The RPF has started an investigation into the matter.

An investigating officer in the matter said that in the face of initial interrogation, the arrested persons admitted that they entered India through the Assam border using fake documents and then planned to go to New Delhi.

“We are now trying to find out the purpose of their illegal entry as well as the purpose of going to New Delhi. Delhi,” he said. However, questions have been raised about how so many of them managed to enter India, especially as security at international borders has been tightened amid the Assembly elections both in West Bengal and Assam.

The development of as many as 14 Bangladeshi citizens illegally entering India had become a political issue before the polls, especially in West Bengal, when one of the main issues of the polls in the state is illegal immigration.

Already, there has been a major political slugfest in West Bengal on this issue, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing Trinamool Congress and the Mamata government of facilitating these illegal Bangladeshi voters to settle in the state to strengthen their dedicated minority vote bank.

On the other hand, Trinamool Congress has been saying that since the task of border security is with the Border Security Force (BSF), which is under the direct control of the Union Home Ministry, the state government has no role in this illegal infiltration.

–IANS

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