7 Bangladeshi nationals held in UP's Jhansi

As many as seven Bangladeshi nationals were arrested during routine checking, as they did not have any valid documents for staying in the country. They were apprehended in Babina Jhansi.

Jhansi (UP): Seven Bangladeshi nationals were arrested here as they did not have any valid documents for staying in the country, police said on Sunday.

Jhansi Senior Superintendent of Police D Pradeep said, "As many as seven Bangladeshi nationals were arrested during routine checking near the bus stand in Babina on Friday."

Babina -- a cantonment town in Jhansi district -- stands for British Army Base in North Asia.

Those arrested were staying at a hotel near the bus stand and did not have valid documents for staying in India, the SSP said, adding that the seven belong to Dhaka.

"For some time, they were in the business of selling fish oil. During the routine probe, no criminal cases have been found against them, but they have been booked under the Foreigners Act for illegally staying in India," Pradeep added.

The arrested were identified as Mamoon Sheikh, Milan Sheikh, Aslam Sheikh, Falan Sheikh, Sijer Sheikh, Mukul Sheikh and Monu Vaid, police said.

In the last few years, several Bangladeshi nationals have been held in Uttar Pradesh for staying without valid travel documents.

In May last year, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) had arrested six Bangladeshi citizens from Agra for allegedly preparing fake passports.

The ATS got information that some Bangladeshis, living illegally in the state, were making fake Aadhaar and ration cards and were then using these documents to get Indian passports made.

During interrogation, they confessed to being residents of Bangladesh living in India on the basis of fake documents and data retrieved from the accused revealed that they had also visited Punjab and Rajasthan.

Those arrested were identified as -- Habibur Rehman of Madaripur district (in Bangladesh), Zakir Hussain of Narayanganj district, Mohammad Kabil of Khansama district, Kamaluddin of Sylhet district, Taizul Islam of Mymensingh district and Liton Miya of Ghazipur district.

Similarly, in 2018, the ATS had picked up three persons, including a Bangladeshi national, for their alleged involvement in preparing fake passports, Aadhaar cards and other documents for illegal immigrants.

The Bangladeshi national, identified as Yusuf Ali alias Nazrul, was arrested from Muradnagar in Ghaziabad and two locals -- Ahsan Ahmad and Wasim Ahmad -- were nabbed from Deoband in Saharanpur.

In September 2017, three illegal Bangladeshi immigrants -- Mohammad Imran, Rajidudeen and Mohammad Firdaus -- were arrested from the Charbagh railway station in Lucknow.

The three brothers were staying in western Uttar Pradesh for years.

The police said they were originally residents of Jessore district in Bangladesh, but had got their Aadhaar cards made on the basis of fake addresses.

They stayed in Deoband, where Imran was employed as a teacher in a madrasa.

In 2017, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) had arrested another illegal Bangladeshi immigrant -- Abu Hannan alias Abu Hana -- who was staying in India for 15 years.

He had married an Indian woman and got his Indian passport and Aadhaar card made.

Abdullah-Al-Mammon, an alleged key operative of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) -- an al Qaeda-inspired Islamic extremist group in Bangladesh -- was arrested from Muzaffarnagar in a separate case.

The names of Imran, Rajidudeen and Firdaus came to light during his interrogation.

Yet another illegal Bangladeshi immigrant, Abdullah, was arrested from Kuteshara in Muzaffarnagar district on August 5, 2017.

Abdullah was arrested from a place of worship, where he worked as a preacher.

He was originally a resident of Momin Shahi district in Bangladesh but told the locals that he belonged to Assam and got a fake Aadhaar card and a passport made for himself.

During interrogation, it came to light that the accused used to get Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards and other documents made on the basis of false documents. The documents were then used to get passports made.

Six persons including five Bangladeshi nationals were arrested from Dulhipur village in Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh in November 2018.

Acting on a tip-off, the Uttar Pradesh Police had arrested them and seized from their possession fake high school certificates, mark sheets and four voter identity cards.

The arrested Bangladeshis-- Mohd Farooq Parmanik, Mohd Manik Sardar, Zulfikar, Mohd Mamoon and Mohd Nurul Islam were residents of Naogaon district of Bangladesh, police said.

The sixth arrested person was Mohd Shakeel alias Guddu Ansari, a resident of Dulhipur village.

In January this year, a special court in Lucknow convicted three Bangladeshi natives who were arrested in 2017 for living in the country without valid documents.

The three were awarded five years imprisonment and also fined Rs 19,000. They were convicted for cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery of valuable security and section 14 of the Foreigners Act.

Identified as Mohammad Imran, Faridudeen and Mohammad Firdaus, the three, natives of Jessore in Bangladesh, were residing at Madrasa Talimul Quran in Deoband, Saharanpur, police said.

The trio was apprehended at the Lucknow Railway Station while they were boarding the Howrah-Amritsar Express and allegedly had a link with the Ansarullah Bangla Team, a banned outfit.

(PTI Report).