Border Security Force Director General KK Sharma said on Friday that India has identified 140 “vulnerable locations” and launched a campaign against criminal gangs that help Rohingya Muslims enter India from Bangladesh, PTI reported. He said additional security personnel and surveillance gadgets had been deployed at 140 border posts along the 4,096-kilometre-long Indo-Bangladesh border to check their entry to India.

“We are also in touch with our sister agencies, the intelligence agencies, to identify and take action against the touts...because these people cannot come on their own,” Sharma said. “There are organised criminals on both sides who help them cross over to India. So we are mounting a campaign against the touts.”

The BSF concluded its bi-annual talks with the Border Guards Bangladesh on Friday and made plans to keep vigil on the “spillover effect of Rohingyas crossing over to India”.

“We are both aware that the issue is very serious as a large number of Rohingyas have entered Bangladesh,” Sharma said while addressing the media along with Border Guards Bangladesh chief Abdul Hossain. “The Border Guards Bangladesh has ensured that the movement of Rohingyas is regulated, and they have mounted some check posts on various routes to ensure that they do not cross over to our side.”

India’s stance

In August, the Indian government announced it was planning to deport all 40,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees living in the country. Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju had said Rohingyas were illegal immigrants.

On September 18, the Centre told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that the continued illegal immigration of Rohingyas to India had “serious national security ramifications and threats”.