31 Myanmaris arrested in Kolkata

Kolkata, Dec 24 (IANS) A group of 31 Myanmar natioanls, who had entered the city via Bangladesh without any legal papers, have been arrested by the railway police here Wednesday, officials said.

'Thirty-one Myanmaris, including four women and three children, were found sitting suspiciously at the Kolkata Terminus Station at Chitpur in north Kolkata Wednesday. When the railway police personnel asked for tickets and legal travel papers, they tried to flee. They were arrested immediately,' Superintendent of Railway Police (SRP) Sealdah Barun Malik told reporters Wednesday evening.

'We also arrested Monirul Gazi alias Munna, who is a resident of Basirhat town in North 24-Parganas district. He worked as an agent and used to bring the Myanmaris to Kolkata without proper papers.'

Malik said the Myanmaris were about to board the Jammu-Tawi Express.

'It is difficult to interrogate them because they speak in some local dialect. We have to get an interpreter and so far we have been able to ascertain that they infiltrated to Kolkata via Bangladesh from Myanmar Tuesday.'

'They put up at Munna's house near the India-Bangladesh border during the night and reached the station to go to Jammu Wednesday morning,' Malik said.

'They worked as labourers in Myanmar and said they were going to Jammu on work. We are still interrogating them,' Malik said.

Malik said only 19 of them had train tickets. The Myanmaris will be presented before a court Thursday.