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NEW DELHI, Jan 7 (AFP) - India is to launch a special drive to deport the estimated 20 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants deemed to pose a serious threat to national security, the home ministry said Tuesday.

"The presence of a large number of illegal foreign immigrants, particularly from Bangladesh, poses a serious threat to internal security and needs to be tackled with utmost urgency and seriousness," the ministry said in a statement issued after a day-long security meeting of top officials.

There are an estimated 20 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants living in India, more than half of whom have settled in in eastern Assam and West Bengal states.

The deportation drive is expected to begin between April and June this year, the ministry's statement said.

Addressing the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani expressed serious concern over "this silent and continuous intrusion" and stressed the need to better detect, identify and deport the illegal settlers, the statement said.

India shares a porous 1,700-kilometre (1,000-mile) border with Bangladesh and has begun constructing a barbed wire fence to stop smuggling and infiltration by mostly Muslim settlers into Assam, Tripura and West Bengal states. 

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