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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 44 foreign nationals have been deported from the state on multiple charges in the past one year, as per the statistics of the state police.

This includes 38 Bangladeshi nationals and one each belonging to the USA, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Oman and Italy. According to intelligence sources, most of the cases were either related to drug peddling or illegal stay. However, it is not quite easy for the authorities to identify Bangaldesh nationals from among migrants from Assam and West Bengal who reside in the state.

Sources said that the exact number of Bangladesh nationals who reach the state could not be ascertained as they possess fake records and claim to be Indians . “We come to know that they are Bangladesh nationals only when they are arrested for some reason,” intelligence sources said. A large group of Bangladeshi nationals were arrested from Edavannappara in Malappuram . A study by Perumbavoor-based NGO, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), found that many workers without documents from Bagerhat, Narail, Khulna and Satkhira districts under Khulna division have been working in Kerala under the guise of Indian nationals. Workers from Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions also cross the international border to work in Kerala and other places in the country.

Though majority come to the state to find work to support their family back home, security agencies are worried over possible terrorist links.

In September this year, three Bangladesh nationals belonging to the terrorist organization Harkat-Ul-Jihadi-Islami (HUJI) were arrested from Malappuram; they were involved in Bodh Gaya bomb blasts.

Meanwhile, experts pointed out that such incidents were common for any other state, and there was no need of over-emphasise on Kerala. “Of course we need to be alert regarding such illegal entry of other nationals to the state, but there is no need to over-emphasise these. We have a proper system in place. But, there is certainly no specific threat with regard to entry of foreign nationals, as far as Kerala is concerned,” former chief of research and analysis wing (R and AW) and former state police chief P K Hormese Tharakan said.

