26 suspected Rohingya without valid documents detained in Assam

Silchar, May 30 (PTI) Twenty-six suspected Rohingya from Myanmar have been detained by the Assam Police for “illegally entering” Cachar district in search of jobs, a police officer said on Monday.

The 26 people, belonging to three families, had allegedly arrived here from Guwahati in three vehicles. They had reached Kamakhya railway station on a train from Jammu. The police stopped the cars near Silchar town during a routine search on Sunday and detained them as they did not have the necessary papers to enter the country.

Cachar Superintendent of Police Ramandeep Kaur told PTI that the detained persons were produced before a court that remanded 12 people, six men, and six women, to judicial custody. Seven children were allowed to stay with their mothers and seven others below 18 years of age were sent to an observation home.

The detained people may have contact with some locals here who had perhaps promised them work, the SP said. An investigation has been launched to trace these persons and efforts are on to nab them, Kaur added.

The three families had allegedly entered the country from Bangladesh through the West Bengal border in 2012 and had initially taken shelter at Malda before leaving for Jammu where they had got in touch with some persons from Cachar who had promised them work in the district, another police officer said.