Immigration Thru' Benapole: Pay cops, get everything done quickly!

It was around 8:30am on May 14. Lopa Halder and her relative Sapna Hera reached Benapole international passenger terminal to enter India early. 

At the entrance, a police constable stopped them and wanted to see their passports. They handed those over to the uniformed official without any hesitation.

The constable now asked for Tk 300 from them, saying, “If you want to go early, give me the money and all the immigration procedures will be completed in no time.”

Without any questions, they gave him Tk 300. It all happened right before the eyes of this correspondent, who was standing close by and also could hear the conversations.    

As the constable went inside the immigration terminal with the passports, this correspondent approached Lopa and asked about paying the policeman.

She said they need to get to the Indian side without any delay.

“If we do not pay them, the police officials will stop us at different points of the terminal in the name of checking,” said the woman, now in her 30s, who had earlier travelled to India through this border. 

After about five minutes, the constable came back and asked the duo to cross the immigration terminal, saying they won't be stopped at any point, not even for taking their photos. 

Asked about what just happened, the constable claimed to have taken the passports just for checking and denied taking any money. He refused to disclose his name but his badge read “Asad”.

The same day, Rahul Biswas, Laltu Bala, Nayon Tara and Jesmin Akter crossed the border and all of them were stopped by police officials at the entrance.

They told this newspaper that they paid police officials for a hassle-free immigration process.

The irregularity, very common at the land port, involves a huge amount of money as thousands of people travel to India and return through Benapole-Petrapole border every day.

According to Benapole Immigration Checkpost sources, around 1.32 lakh people went to India using the port and 92,434 entered Bangladesh from India in April this year.

Uniformed police constables are found stopping people in front of the passenger terminal and taking Tk 100 to 300 against each passport in the name of helping people to cross the border quickly.

In exchange of money, the officials provide departure or arrival seal to any person without taking their photos.

Md Tariqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Benapole Checkpost Immigration Police, admitted that they sometimes allow tourists to pass through the border without photographing them when the pressure is high.

“Sometimes we provide seal to some passengers without taking their photos as some people request for a quick passage through the border.”

He claimed it is not necessary to take photos of passengers every time they travel abroad as their photos are reserved in the database for at least five years unless they changed the passports.

In reply to a question if criminals can take advantage of the loopholes, the OC said it is not possible because the passport numbers of criminals have been saved in their database.

If a criminal tries to cross the border, the machine will give a signal whenever the passport is scanned, he added. 

Asked why police officials were taking money, Tariqul said he was not aware of any such incidents. “I will definitely look into it very carefully, and action will be taken if anyone is found guilty.”

Earlier on July 1 of 2015, the Prime Minister's Office forwarded an intelligence report to offices concerned and suggested taking proper action, saying police joining hands with brokers collect Tk 200 from outgoing tourists at Benapole for each passport for giving departure or arrival seal on it. 

The Daily Star obtained a copy of the intelligence report.

Bangladesh tourists are facing harassments also on the Indian side, at the Petrapole border point, reports our Benapole correspondent. 

Regular travellers allege that due to a slow process of Indian immigration officials, every day a huge number of people suffer in no-man's land where they have to wait for hours.

A number of tourists claimed that the Indian immigration officials demand Rs 200 to 500 each from Bangladeshi passengers returning home if anyone is found with big luggage full of items shopped from the neighbouring country.

If anyone refuses to pay the money, the immigration officials harass the person in the name of checking passports, baggage and travel documents causing unnecessary delay, alleged the tourists.

Talking to our Kolkata correspondent on May 30, Swapan Tarafdar, chief of Petrapole Immigration Office, denied the allegation of harassing any Bangladeshi tourists. 

Regarding delays in immigration procedures, he said the pressure of tourists from Bangladesh is rising every day while Indian officials are struggling because of manpower shortage.

“But we are trying our best to ensure better service.”

He said no Bangladeshi tourists have made formal complaints to them and steps will be taken if the authorities notice any such issues.