Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Monday came down heavily on DGP Rajeev Kumar for blaming the BSF for the infiltration of Bangladeshi terrorists in Bengal.

Citing statistics, Adhikari stated that the BSF apprehended 1,454 Bangladeshi nationals in 2023 and 1,728 in 2024 (up to December 15). He claimed the Bengal police had barely apprehended any.

“Since the BSF lacks the authority to arrest, they hand over apprehended Bangladeshi nationals to the local police. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress members are reportedly facilitating the process for these individuals to obtain residential certificates, Aadhaar and voter ID cards, enabling thousands of Bangladeshi terrorists to infiltrate through Bengal and spread to other states,” Adhikari alleged in a news conference in Calcutta on Monday.

Adhikari was responding to DGP Rajeev Kumar's allegation made on Sunday during a news conference. Kumar stated that the responsibility for preventing infiltration from Bangladesh was with the Border Security Force (BSF) and went on to add that the state police had effectively managed the issue despite the "flaws" of the "operations" of the central security force.

Adhikari’s allegation that the state government facilitated providing identity cards to terrorists emerged when one arrested Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) activist Shad Radi, also known as Shab Sheikh, was discovered in possession of two elector's photo identity cards (EPIC) issued in his name from two Assembly constituencies in Murshidabad, Kandi and Hariharpara.

Adhikari also referred to recent arrests made by police in various states, including eight members of the ABT apprehended from different parts of the country with links to Bengal, and suspected Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM) terrorist Javed Ahmed Munshi, who was arrested from Canning in South 24-Parganas by Jammu and Kashmir police based on information provided by Bengal's Special Task Force.

The state shares an international border of 2,216.7km with Bangladesh. Out of this, 1,647.4km have already been covered by the border fence. However, in 569.2km, fencing has not yet been completed.

BJP leader Adhikari also claimed that out of 456.4km, presently feasible for border fencing, land acquisition was pending for a 284.5km stretch where fencing needs to be constructed.

He accused the state government of failing to allocate land for border fencing, which was critical to stop infiltration.

2 of ABT held

In a joint operation by the cops of the special task force of Bengal police and the Assam police, two associates of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a Bangladesh-based fundamentalist group, Sajidul Islam and Mustakin Molla, were arrested from Naoda village in Murshidabad district on Monday morning.

Sources in the police force said that Islam is also the cousin of ABT activist Shad Radi, who was arrested recently from Kerala.