Over 12,000 foreigners residing illegally?

A brief stint in prison, and unscrupulous foreigners can prolong their stay and run illegal businesses in Bangladesh.

Once caught by law enforcers, they opt to serve time in jail to avoid deportation. But soon they come out on bail, now moving more freely than before until the cases are settled, said an official of the Special Branch (SB) of Police.

Illegal immigrants work mostly at private organisations. Many rent flats in groups and get involved in drug trade, illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) business, gold and dollar smuggling, mugging and even killing.

Algerian national Abuubaida Kadir, the prime accused in last year's killing of O-level student Zubair Ahmed in Uttara, is one of those overstaying in Bangladesh for over a decade.

In December 2013, the Rapid Action Battalion detained 37 foreigners who had been running VoIP business at an Uttara flat. Of them, 27 have been released on bail (and staying in the country) and the rest are still in jail, police and court sources told The Daily Star early this year.

In November last year, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told parliament some 549 foreigners of 12 countries were in different jails. Of them, 76 are serving different jail terms while 393 are under trial. And processes were on to deport the rest 80.

NO SYSTEM, NO MONEY

Officials cannot give the exact number, but SB sources say at least 12,000 foreigners are illegally staying in Dhaka and elsewhere since 2000. About half of them are believed to be from African countries.

Unlike other countries, Bangladesh has no mechanism to deal with illegal immigrants. There is no fund for deporting those captured by police. Moreover, there is no deportation centre where the foreigners can be taken for quizzing. Bangladesh law does not permit confining foreign nationals without formal charges. So, law enforcers have no choice but to put them in jail, SB officials said. 

Under the law, the maximum punishment for overstay in Bangladesh is five years' jail term and unspecified amount of fine.

The Security Control Organisation (SCO), an SB wing that deals with foreigners, prefer to deport these immigrants after their arrests. The wing deported around 100 foreigners last year, 30 in November alone, on its own initiative.

But most of them refuse to be deported and ask the police to put them in prison instead. Also, many of them destroy their passports and other valid documents to hide their nationalities and thus avoid deportation. Only a few want to go back and manage tickets with the help of their compatriots living in the country, said an SCO official, requesting not to be named.

"When we arrest illegal immigrants, they say they have no money to buy tickets. We need to keep them in custody for a few days for questioning but, sadly, we have no facility for that," he added.

Moreover, no African countries except for Morocco and Egypt have embassies in Bangladesh. So it is difficult to find out their nationalities and arrange their deportations.

It is very urgent to update the Foreigners Act with provisions for setting up a detention centre and empowering law enforcers to confine illegal immigrants for a certain period to verify their identities, said a police official working in the immigration.

"The government should also allocate fund for this [deportation]," he added.

HOW THEY ENTER

Many of these immigrants enter Bangladesh as football players, students and tourists, but continue to stay even after the expiry of their visas or permits. Others sneak into Bangladesh through India.

Football clubs usually invite three to four times more players than they need. After a two or three-week practice session, they hire the best performers only, said another SB official.

As the poor performers cannot manage return tickets from the clubs, they either join little-known or district-level clubs or start working illegally. Some get involved in criminal activities for money.

Contacted, Nurul Alam Chowdhury, president of Sheikh Russell Krira Chakra, claimed they collect passports of the foreign players upon their arrival. After the trial match, they return the passports of the poor performers and send them home.

But it is not the case with all the clubs, police said.

Detectives say some foreigners collude with some Bangladeshi lawyers to find ways for staying in the country.