Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said that 18 illegal foreign nationals were apprehended in Sribhumi district and subsequently sent back.
Taking to X, CM Sarma said,“Just like Kohli’s iconic Straight Drive, we are executing PUSHBACKS straight back to the territory of illegal infiltrators. 18 such pitch invaders have been pushed back early this morning from Sribhumi.”
The chief minister, however, did not specify the nationality or ethnicity of those apprehended. “Diwali is really the time when the good defeats the evil,” Sarma said.
Assam’s Sribhumi, Cachar, Dhubri, and South Salmara-Mankachar districts share a 267.5-km international border with Bangladesh. The state has an Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Sutarkandi in Sribhumi, one of the three ICPs along the India–Bangladesh border in the Northeast, the others being at Dawki in Meghalaya and Akhaura in Tripura.
Assam Police had earlier said that, along with the Border Security Force (BSF), it would take all measures to prevent illegal entry attempts from Bangladesh, following political unrest in the neighbouring country last year.
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However, all Indian passport holders would be allowed to return from trouble-hit Bangladesh through the entry point in the state.