Major Immigration Crackdown in Odisha Villages
In a significant operation targeting illegal immigration, Jagatsinghpur police arrested approximately 20 suspected Bangladeshi nationals, including 12 women, from two villages in Odisha on Monday. The coordinated action involved both law enforcement and district administration officials who subsequently demolished around 17 illegally constructed houses in Beherarampur and Satapura villages.
Police Operation and Seizures
According to Jagatsinghpur Superintendent of Police Ankit Kumar Verma, the arrests followed sustained intelligence gathering at the ground level. "Based on sustained ground-level intelligence, we apprehended 20 suspected foreign nationals from Satapura and Beherarampur villages under Jagatsinghpur police station. They could not produce valid Indian citizenship documents. We seized some fake Aadhar cards from them," Verma stated.
The police operation took a dramatic turn when two of the suspects allegedly assaulted three police personnel during a house search in Beherarampur on Sunday night. Authorities recovered a country-made revolver and 15 sharp weapons during this incident. Both accused have been charged under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Arms Act, 1959.
Administrative Action and Official Response
Simultaneously with the police operation, the district administration carried out demolition activities targeting illegal structures. Sub-Collector Prasant Tarei explained that 10 houses in Berherarampur and 7 in Satapura village were dismantled under police supervision. The illegal occupation of government land came to light after officials rescued several non-Indian children from a local madrassa on Friday.
DIG (Central Range) Satyajit Naik, who visited the affected villages on Monday, emphasized the seriousness of the situation. "We have already formed a team to identify and take action against all illegal immigrants staying in Jagatsinghpur without valid documents. The move is necessary from a national security viewpoint," Naik stated. He further clarified that "detection, detention and deportation of illegal foreign nationals, including those from Bangladesh, is an ongoing process."
All arrested suspects have been transferred to a detention center while police continue operations to apprehend others who managed to flee during the raid. The scale of illegal immigration in the region becomes evident from statistics shared in the state assembly in March, where Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi revealed that 3,738 illegal Bangladeshi nationals had been identified across Odisha, with the highest concentration in Kendrapada (1,649) followed by Jagatsinghpur (1,112).
