87 foreign detainees shifted to Matia transit camp from Silchar jail: Officials

Cachar district superintendent of police (SP) Numal Mahatta said that they are being transferred as per the order from higher authorities and adequate security measures have been arranged to shift the foreigners to the Matia transit camp from Silchar jail

A total of 87 foreign nationals, including 22 Bangladeshis, 64 Myanmarese and one from Africa’s Senegal have been shifted to Assam’s Matia transit camp in Goalpara district from the Silchar detention centre, officials said.

Three buses escorted by police took the 87 foreign nationals from Silchar Central Jail on Saturday evening (HT Photo)

Police said that of the 87 who were shifted include 20 women, 21 minors and 46 men, who had entered India illegally from various parts of the international borders.

Cachar district superintendent of police (SP) Numal Mahatta said that they are being transferred as per the order from higher authorities and adequate security measures have been arranged to shift the foreigners to the Matia transit camp from Silchar jail.

“As per the order from the higher authorities, we are shifting these foreigners. There are women, children and adult men among the detainees. We have arranged adequate security measures to conduct the shifting,” he told HT on Saturday.

Officials said that they began the process from Silchar at around 6:30pm on Saturday and reached Goalpara on Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, according to the officials, a team from the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh in Guwahati visited Silchar central jail on Thursday and identified the 22 Bangladeshis who’ll be deported soon.

“Two consular assistants Biswajit Chakraborty and Shaminur haque from the Assistant High Commission office visited Silchar central jail and identified 22 Bangladeshis who are now eligible for deportation,” said an official from the Silchar jail.

Police said these foreigners were arrested from various parts of Barak Valley in recent years and some of the Bangladeshi nationals were deported at different times.

Assam’s largest detection camp, officially known as the “Matia Transit Camp,” built on a 28,800 sq ft area in Goalpara district, received its first batch of foreigners on January 27 this year. Officials said that this was the beginning of a phase-wise transfer.

The camp has the capacity to house 3000 inmates. Before Silchar, a batch of foreigners from Dibrugarh was shifted to the transit camp on Friday, all Bangladeshi nationals, according to superintendent of police (SP), Dibrugarh district, Shwetank Mishra.

Assam government has also used the Matia camp to keep the arrested husbands during the drive against “child marriage” in the state.