When I started working here, I got Rs 150 a day. As it was not enough to buy two meals for my family, I decided to send my wife, Roopa, to some customers in Naroda (Ahmedabad). We started earning enough. Last, I sent her to one Jayshreeben in Himmatnagar, a pimp. She took my wife to a rich customer. She was four months pregnant then: Sikandar Sheikh (27) Sikandar is among those 75 Bangladeshi migrants who had been detained by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) last week in one of the largest crackdowns in the state on illegal migrants in recent times.

Many Bangladeshis like Sikandar have infiltrated into Gujarat, mostly to lead a decent life. However, police say many of them are into prostitution and petty crimes. Many of them living in Ahmedabad and around are the natives of Nodai and Kholna districts of Bangladesh, say Ahmedabad police.

A senior police officer who has dealt with Bangladeshi infiltrators in the state earlier, said: “The men marry more than one woman and push all of them into prostitution. This is their main source of income after begging, rag-picking and carrying animal carcass.”

He said they first come to Ahmedabad and then spread to other places like Modasa, Kutch (Kalna, Bhuj), Porbandar, and Bapunagar and Unpatiya in Surat.

Roopa, pregnant and now in police custody, said: “I was sent to one middle-aged man in Himmatnagar. I don’t know his name. He took me to one Sahil Hotel on the Highway.”

Roopa said she often went to Krishna Hotel in Hirawadi in Naroda for customers including truck drivers and policemen.

Spilling the beans on the entire network of prostitution rampant in Ahmedabad East, Sheikh said, “Hotel managers arrange the deal. The girls are frequently sent to Anjum Guest House in Hirawadi and Gagan Hotel in Naroda Patiya. A pimp called Indar staying at Bajrang Ashram sends our girls to hotels in Bapunagar. The main supplier in most of the cases is Raju Langda who co-ordinates in all the cities.” A senior Special Operation Group (SOG) officer said, “The truckers cross India-Bangladesh border only on the basis of their driving licences and vehicle papers. The children selling fruits often cross the borders. They make good money in India and return home in the evenings.” He said a majority of migrants swim and cross the border as Bangladesh is surrounded by water from three sides. “Hardly two BSF jawans are posted at a distance of 25 meters and they can easily be fooled,” he said.

The DCB officers also said the migrants staying in Ahmedabad had neither identity proofs nor passports of their country. An officer said, “Most of the migrants tell cops that their identity proofs were burnt during the 2002 riots”.

Incidentally, the migrants staying in large groups at Chandola Lake, Rakhiyal, Chiloda areas of Ahmedabad for last 10 to 15 years are caught only when they receive threats.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abhay Chudasama, said, “The DCB detains them and sends them back. West Bengal is the place they make fake ID cards and sneak into the country.”

Chudasama said the checks on the trains and the roads the illegal migrants use need to be increased. However, vigilance at borders he said is the subject of the state government. The DCB had last detained Bangladeshis in July 2008 after Ahmedabad bomb blasts.

Facilitators on both sides

Mohammad Javed (33), a Bangladeshi migrant, says infiltration is just a matter of few minutes. “There are agents on both sides. The most notable ones are Yunus from Bangladesh and Bangaal from India. The police are in search of them. Yunus helped me (and many others staying over here). He takes 1,200 takas for helping people cross the border. Major crossing occurs across the Benapur border. Yunus took me to a nullah and we walked to Bongaon in West Bengal. Then Bangaal got us on a bus and we came to Dharamtala. We took a bus to Howrah station. Bangaal had arranged for our tickets and he made us sit in the Howrah Express train.’’

Javed was earlier detained in 2008 by the DCB. He was sent back to Kaliya in Bangladesh. Javed again came to India during Ramzan, a time when migration from Bangladesh usually increases as families come to collect zakat.

Tackling the menace

Proposals outlined by the DCB to tackle illegal immigration:

* The Bangladeshi immigrants found to have committed crime in Bangladesh should not be sent back and instead serve punishment here.

* The ones committing crime here should not be deported back.

* Many criminals not possessing identity papers are sent back but they are found to make their way back using their knowledge of the city and vulnerable areas of crime.