A 52-year-old Bangladeshi man suspected to be an agent of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was arrested in the New Market area on Wednesday.

Police said Abul Qasim — also known as Ratan, Nazrul Islam and Sushil Roy — had been arrested earlier, too, on forgery charges and for violating the Official Secrets Act.

“In June 2003, Qasim had fled from the lock-up of a Mekhliganj court after breaking open the ventilator,” said Jawed Shamim, the deputy commissioner of police (detective department).

Acting on a tip-off from the subsidiary intelligence branch and military intelligence, the Special Task Force of city police swooped down on Qasim while he was standing in front of a hotel in the New Market area.

An officer said the resident of Feni district in Bangladesh, who arrived in the city on October 25, was planning to check in at the hotel. The sleuths are trying to find out where Qasim had been staying since arriving in the city.

Qasim told interrogators that he had been trained by the Bangladeshi army before he started working for the intelligence wing of the Pakistani army. “He had been trained in gathering military intelligence,” said an officer.

“He told us he had been to Karachi and Baluchistan. The ISI had sent him to India in 2000 to collect information about vital installations. He said he had visited Calcutta four times and had also been to north Bengal,” the officer added.

Qasim was first arrested in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, in 2002 on the charge of violating the Official Secrets Act. He was brought to Jalpaiguri, where he was wanted on similar charges, on a transit remand. “Some incriminating documents relating to vital installations, such as railway and army facilities, were found on him,” the officer said.

From Jalpaiguri, Qasim was taken to Mekhliganj in Cooch Behar, where he was wanted in forgery cases.

“He had forged his visa and passport while entering India. On June 25, 2003, he was taken to a local court. He broke open the ventilator of the court lock-up and fled,” the officer added.

The police seized three forged Bangladeshi passports from Qasim. Those were issued in the names of Nazrul Islam, Ratan and Shah Alam. The police suspect that Qasim had recruited several youths who sneak into India at regular intervals for subversive activities.