Dhubri police detain 36 Bangladeshi nationals at Jogamaya Ghat

Assam Police detained 36 suspected Bangladeshi nationals at Jogamaya Ghat in Dhubri town in the early hours of Friday, in what officers described as an operation to stop the district's river routes being used as a transit corridor.

Dhubri Senior Superintendent of Police Debasish Bora said police had been getting intelligence for about two days that a large group from Bangladesh had entered India and could try to reach Dhubri, mainly by river. Ferry ghats along the Brahmaputra were put on alert.

How the group was stopped

Acting on a specific tip received at around 2.30 am, a police team intercepted a boat arriving at Jogamaya Ghat. According to the SSP, about 120 people were on board. After screening, police identified 36 of them as residents of Chapai Nawabganj district in Bangladesh's Rajshahi division. Documents and mobile phones were recovered.

Preliminary questioning suggests the group travelled down the Brahmaputra from Hatsingimari in South Salmara-Mankachar district to Dhubri and planned to move on to Chennai. Security sources quoted in reports said the men had first crossed into India through Meghalaya.

Middlemen and a missing pair

The detained men reportedly told police they had paid between Rs 15,000 and Rs 17,000 each to middlemen, and named a person called Milan as having helped them cross. They also said 38 people had entered Assam, two more than the number caught; police said the gap is being examined.

All the detainees are men, roughly between 30 and 50 years old. Bora said the investigation was at an early stage and it would take time to question everyone and trace who arranged their entry and onward travel. Reports said the men will face action under the Foreigners Act and the Passport Act, and police have stepped up checks at other ferry ghats, bus terminals and railway stations.

Why Dhubri matters

Dhubri sits where the Brahmaputra enters Bangladesh, and much of its border with the neighbouring country runs through rivers and char (sandbar) areas that are difficult to fence and patrol. Friday's operation has again drawn attention to the riverine stretch as a route for unauthorised movement, an issue the Assam government has made a central part of its campaign against illegal immigration.