Fake Aadhaar cards, printing machines found as ED raids 17 places in Jharkhand, Bengal under ‘Bangladeshi infiltration’ crackdown

“ED, Ranchi is conducting searches at 17 locations under PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), 2002, in Jharkhand and West Bengal in connection with illegal Bangladeshi infiltration. So far, various incriminating items, including fake Aadhaars, forged passports, illegal arms, immovable property documents, cash, jewellery, printing papers, printing machines, and blank proformas used for forging Aadhaar have been recovered. Further searches are continuing,” the agency wrote in a social media post.

Sources said a few people have been detained and are being questioned.

Forged passports and illegal arms seized from the raids. (Photo: ED/ X)

The June 4 FIR was registered under sections pertaining to cheating and forgery. As per sources, the FIR stated that a 21-year-old woman from Bangladesh was brought to Kolkata by two women on the night of May 31-June 1 by illegally crossing the border from a forested area.

“It is thus necessary to investigate the alleged illegal infiltration of such persons from Bangladesh into India, as well as the agents who are facilitating such activities, which are aimed to acquire proceeds of crime and commit other criminal activities,” ED sources said.

With Jharkhand voting in two phases on November 13 and 20, the BJP has focused a large part of its campaign energies on highlighting illegal infiltration, which it says is going on unchecked under the JMM-led coalition government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has raised the issue several times in his speeches, and has promised a law to return lands allegedly grabbed by infiltrators in Santhal Pargana area. The BJP has also accused the state government of indulging in appeasement politics.

The JMM-led government, however, maintains that securing the border area is the Centre’s prerogative, and if infiltration is taking place, the Home Ministry and not the state government is to blame.