Eight Illegal Bangladeshi Nationals Held at Bongaigaon Station en Route to Chennai, Fake IDs Seized

Bongaigaon: In a major security interception, the Government Railway Police (GRP) on Tuesday detained eight Bangladeshi nationals at New Bongaigaon Railway Station, Assam, for illegally entering India and attempting to travel to Chennai for work using forged documents.

The detainees Babu Sheikh, Ashraful Haque, Alamin Ali, Mamun Sheikh, Mohammad Ali, Rahul Amin, Musharraf Ali, and Asharul Haque all from Jamalpur district in central Bangladesh and are aged between 19 and 22, according to police officials.Senior Superintendent of Police Mohanlal Meena confirmed that the group had entered India via the porous India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya, allegedly by walking through hilly terrain and a broken fence. Each of them reportedly paid ₹9,000 to cross-border agents to facilitate the illegal entry.

“All eight of us walked across the hills last evening and crossed the border through a broken fence. We were headed to Chennai for work,” one of the detained individuals admitted to reporters.Upon inspection, GRP officials recovered fake Indian documents, including Aadhaar cards and voter IDs, from the group. One of the accused, who had previously stayed in India for nearly a year, is fluent in Hindi, Tamil, and Assamese, and is suspected to be the group’s leader.

“He had managed to obtain multiple Indian IDs under false pretenses,” said SSP Meena, adding that the suspect admitted securing such forged documents was “not difficult.”

Authorities believe the incident may be part of a larger illegal migration or human trafficking network. The group was reportedly mingling with legitimate migrant workers returning home from cities like Delhi and Gurugram, likely to avoid detection.

Acting on specific intelligence, GRP officers conducted a search operation at the railway station and detained the suspects before they could board a train.

The individuals are currently in GRP custody, and a case has been registered. Their identities and immigration status are under verification in coordination with central intelligence and border security agencies.

Further investigations are underway to identify cross-border facilitators and local contacts, with police not ruling out the involvement of a trafficking syndicate operating on both sides of the border.