For the first time, India will deport seven Rohingya immigrants to their home country, Myanmar on Thursday (4). The seven members have been illegally staying in India’s northeastern state of Assam.

According to home ministry officials, the seven Rohingya immigrants will be handed over to Myanmar officials at Moreh border post in Manipur, another northeastern state of India as scheduled.

The illegal immigrants were arrested in 2012 and have been staying at a detention centre at Silchar in Assam. Diplomat access had been given to Myanmar officials, who finally confirmed the identity of the persons arrived from abroad, Indian officials added.

Another official noted that the verification of the Myanmarese citizenship of the seven-member group came after the Myanmar government verified their addresses in Rakhine state.

Last year, the Indian government informed the Parliament that more than 14,000 Rohingya people, enrolled with the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, stay in India. However, according to the estimates by the aid agencies state that there are about 40,000 Rohingya people in India.

Hundreds of thousands of members of the Rohingya Muslim community moved away from their homes in 2017 to escape an alleged crackdown by the Myanmar army.