Illegal Bangladeshi Migrants Detained in Tamil Nadu Scrap Yard Operation

Chennai, 20 July – Three citizens of Bangladesh were arrested by the Chengalpattu crime branch after it was discovered they were residing and working at a scrap yard near Guduvanchery without any legal status. The men had entered India clandestinely, lacking passports, visas or any other admissible documents.

The police act was triggered by a lead that suggested some laborers at a Kanivakam scrap yard were foreign nationals living illegally. A rapid response team carried out an on‑site inspection, noting the presence of several migrant workers from northern India.

When questioned, the three initially identified themselves as West Bengal residents. However, inconsistencies in their answers forced the officers to dig deeper, after which they confessed to being Bangladeshi. Their names are Zakir Bakir, 26, Abdul Salam Sitheri, 28, and Arif Sitheri, 25.

Preliminary inquiries indicate that the trio crossed the India‑Bangladesh border months ago through a section without fencing, subsequently boarding a train to Chennai in search of employment. Upon reaching the city’s suburban districts, they secured daily‑wage jobs before being employed at the scrap yard in Kanivakam.

The crime branch has filed a case under the provisions related to illegal entry and unauthorized residence, formally booking the three men and interrogating them to trace the route they used and any possible support from organized networks or local contacts.

Investigators have now broadened the scope of the probe to identify any persons who may have facilitated the migrants’ accommodation or job placement, and are intensifying surveillance across Chennai’s outskirts to detect additional foreign nationals posing as migrant laborers.