33 detained Bangladeshi nationals sent back from Tamil Nadu

Thirty-three detained Bangladeshi nationals from Tamil Nadu are being deported to Bangladesh via West Bengal with police escort.

Nearly 33 “illegal” immigrants from Bangladesh who were detained in Tamil Nadu’s Salem district were on Friday (March 20, 2026) put on a train to West Bengal, from where they will be sent back to their country.

According to police sources, the Bangladeshi nationals were accommodated in a separate coach attached to the Tiruchi-Howrah Super Fast Express. A special team of the Tamil Nadu police is escorting them to West Bengal with the assistance of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials, police sources said. The immigrants will be handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel who will send them back to Bangladesh through the border, the sources said. 

The operation is part of an ongoing drive launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs a couple of years ago. So far, Tamil Nadu has sent back dozens of Bangladeshi nationals who were staying and working in the State without valid documents.

“We are coordinating with security personnel along the route and also deputed senior officials to assist the State police in taking the illegal immigrants to the destination,” a senior Railway official told The Hindu.

The Tamil Nadu government had set up a Special Task Force to deport Bangladeshis and Rohingya (Myanmar nationals) staying without valid travel documents. Three detention centres are functioning in Tiruchi, Cheiyyar, and Attur, to house suspected illegal immigrants.

The initiative was taken after the Home Ministry wrote to Chief Secretaries of all the States/Union Territories, asking them to establish Special Task Forces in all districts under the supervision of the police to detect, identify, and deport foreign nationals staying without valid travel documents.