Special drive against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants reveal a suspected human trafficking network

The detention of Bangladeshi nationals residing illegally in the city during a special police drive on March 6 has exposed a suspected human trafficking and forced labour network involving middlemen known as “thekedars”.

The police said 16 Bangladeshi nationals, including men, women and children, who were detained by the Varthur police, were currently being housed in a function hall, while authorities complete formalities for their deportation.

Interestingly, several of the migrants expressed relief after being detained by the police. “We are happy that we were tracked down. Now, we can finally go back to our country and meet our families,” one of the women told reporters.

According to her, she and several others were brought to Bengaluru illegally about four years ago after being promised decent jobs and good salaries. “They showed us videos of high-rise buildings, good roads, metro trains and malls to convince us that we would get good jobs here,” she said.

However, the reality was starkly different after they arrived in the city. The woman alleged that they were confined in a godown and forced to work at waste segregation units from morning till evening, receiving only ₹5,000 per month. “The thekedars threatened us with dire consequences and warned that they would get us arrested if we protested. We were not allowed to move freely and had to live and work inside the compound amid heaps of garbage,” she said.

Another migrant said the labourers were deployed in waste segregation units run under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) system, where contractors reportedly receive about ₹24,000 per worker, while migrants were paid only a fraction of that amount. “We were told we would get only ₹5,000. Any protest would be dealt with severely,” he recalled.

The migrants said they were now relieved as they hoped to return home soon and were reunited with their families. Many of them expressed hope that they would be able to celebrate Eid with their families back in Bangladesh.

The police said officers from the Varthur police station, along with volunteers from the Vimochana women’s helpline, were currently taking care of the migrants by offering them food and other basic needs, including milk, medicines and diapers for children. The operation is part of an ongoing citywide drive to identify and detain illegal Bangladeshi immigrants living in and around Bengaluru.

Investigations have also led to the detention of several thekedars, suspected to be part of a larger network that has brought Bangladeshi nationals into India through porous borders and then exploited them as cheap labour. The police said some of these middlemen deliberately involved themselves in criminal cases so they could remain in India under the pretext of attending court hearings, thereby prolonging their stay.

“This allows them to misuse the system and continue operating,” a police officer said. Investigators are trying to track down more agents based on information provided by the detained migrants and by analysing mobile phone records.

The detained Bangladeshi nationals will soon be handed over to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) to initiate the deportation process. So far, over 215 Bangladeshi nationals have been identified and detained across the city during the ongoing operation. The police said many more were still on the run, and efforts were under way to trace them.