City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao has said that increasing number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh to the city is a cause for concern as they may turn sleeper cells for terrorist groups elsewhere.
Intelligence inputs suggest that at least 10 terrorist groups shifted to Bangladesh after the U.S. forces imposed curbs on such groups on the Pakistan–Afghanistan border, he said during an interaction with members of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.
Mr. Rao said there were cases of human trafficking from Bangladesh as middlemen lure them with job opportunities in the construction sector, and harass them after they come to the city. However, he did not specify the number of illegal Bangladeshis living in the city.
He said Bengaluru, which currently has a police strength of 9,000, needs at least 10,000 more personnel. For patrolling from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. around 1,900 police personnel, including two DCP-level officials, had been deployed.
Speaking about the deployment of Hoysala vehicles, he said the government had been approached for induction of 500 to 600 vehicles in a phased manner.
“At present, Hoysala vehicles reach people in need within 10 minutes after a call to emergency service, and we are planning to reduce it to 6 to 7 minutes and gradually to 2 to 3 minutes.” Under the Nirbhaya scheme, the Police Department is planning to install 17,000 advanced CCTV cameras in the city.