In a significant operation, eight Bangladeshi nationals who had been living illegally in Udupi district for the past three years were apprehended, police reported on Saturday.
According to the information released, the arrests came after one of the individuals, identified as Mohammed Maniq, attempted to board a flight to Dubai from Mangaluru airport using a fake passport. Immigration officials present at Bajpe airport in Dakshina Kannada district became suspicious of latter's action, and immediately arrested him.
Upon interrogation, Maniq then revealed that seven other Bangladeshi nationals were also staying illegally in Hoode village, Udupi district. The information was subsequently passed by the immigration officials to local authorities, who prompted a raid in the village on Friday.
Udupi Superintendent of Police (SP) Arun K confirmed that the police detained the seven individuals, who had been residing without valid passports or visas. During the investigation, it was found that the group possessed forged Aadhaar cards, raising concerns about how they crossed the border from Bangladesh and obtained these fraudulent documents.
Meanwhile, the police have launched an inquiry into the incident. And all eight suspects, currently in police custody, are expected to appear before a local court soon. Further, it is pertinent to note that the present development comes days after around 18 Pakistani nationals were also apprehended by Bengaluru Police on charges of staying illegally in India on fake documents.
Earlier, speaking of the development, Karnataka Minister G Parameshwara said, "We have arrested few people. The unconfirmed report says that there are more people. I believe they belong to some religious organisation or some outfit that is why they have to propagate that they have come here. That is what the initial report says. But internally, we don't know."
"We have informed the IB and the GoI agency. They have to initiate actions...They're (the culprits) supposed to be representing some religious organisation and propagating that in India...We have arrested about half a dozen of them at the moment," the Karnataka Home Minister added.
(With inputs from PTI)
