UP: Bijnor police launch drive to identify Bangladeshis and Rohingyas

BIJNOR: Bijnor police on Monday launched a campaign to identify “illegal” Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants living in the district. At the end of the first day, they claimed to have identified 50 such people, whose identity proofs and backgrounds are being verified. Each police station has designated a team to identify such people.

SP Sanjeev Tyagi said, “We received a tip-off that some people living here are illegal immigrants. Following this, we launched a crackdown against them.”

He added, “The campaign was launched on Monday. Our teams are checking identities of all suspects living in the district. All police stations have been alerted. On the first day, we identified 50 people in Jhandapur and some other parts of the district, who claimed they are natives of Assam. We have contacted authorities in Assam to have their identities verified. We’ll take action against them if they turn out to be citizens of Bangladesh living here illegally,” Tyagi said.

He further said, “We have got information that there are more such people in Noorpur, Chandpur, Barhapur and Bijnor cities. The drive is on.”

According to police officials, a new colony has cropped up in Bijnor’s Jhandapur, 5km from the district headquarters, where a large number of ragpickers employed by a local contractor, live.