43 illegal Bangladeshis detained in Manipur

Manipur Police on Thursday detained 43 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants while over 300 other suspects were rounded up during a combing operation, police said.

Police conducted a combing operation in Thoubal and Imphal East districts following intelligence inputs about movement of militants.

Three vehicles suspected to ferry the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants have been seized by the Manipur Police commandos. “Some of the 43 Bangladeshi nationals, including women and children, have stayed in Manipur for a decade while some had just arrived in the past few weeks,” a police official said.

The verification process of the 300 others suspected illegal immigrants is on at camp of the 2nd Manipur Rifles, the official added.

Police said the Bangladeshi nationals were residing in Muslim-dominated areas at Lilong and Hatta.Following pressure from civil society groups, the Manipur assembly July 13 adopted a resolution urging the central government to extend the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, to the state to check the influx of suspected Bangladeshi and Myanmarese nationals.