Four Bangladeshi nationals illegally living in the country were arrested from Nathupur, around 15km south of Patna, on Wednesday. The four allegedly indulged in fraud.

The persons have been identified as Alam, Fatima Begum, Halima Begum and Rahima Begum. They have been living in the Nathupur area under Parsa Bazaar police station since May. They allegedly conned people around the country with US currency note stuck on a bundle of finely cut papers before coming to Patna.

The police chanced upon the alleged con artistes when Halima and Rahima went to lodge a compliant about a fight between their sister Fatima and her husband Alam. The couple have three children aged between one and three.

Deputy superintendent of police (sadar) Mutaffiq Ahmed told The Telegraph: “The four Bangladeshi nationals were caught in a strange way. This morning (Wednesday) Alam and Fatima had a fight and the sisters came to the Parsa Bazaar police station to lodge a complaint. A team went to their rented house and during the verification process, the four were found to be Bangladeshi nationals, living illegally in Patna for the past one month. They didn’t have visas and passports. When the cops further questioned them, they revealed that they duped people and used to change cities after carrying out most of their cons successfully.”

Before coming to Patna, the alleged frauds were carried out in New Delhi and Bengal’s Malda district.

Senior superintendent of police Amrit Raj said: “According to their statement, the four used to stick a US dollar over a bundle of finely cut papers and rolled it neatly. Then they used to go from house to house looking for victims. Mostly the sisters carried out the con jobs. They used to say that they had no Indian currency and were stuck. They wanted any amount of Indian money in return of the bundle of dollars to go home.” Raj said the family was from Barishal district in southern Bangladesh.

The police said the four have not revealed where they used to get the US dollars from or what they used to tell their victims about where they came from. The police are yet to ascertain if the US currency notes they used in duping people were real or fake.

Ahmed said: “The cops have not recovered any US dollars from them but the Bangladeshi nationals said they had duped some people in Alamganj and Patthar ki Masjid areas of Patna City. Their claim is being verified but none of the victims have lodged a complaint with the respective police stations. The police are still to verify if the US currency notes they used to dupe people with were real or fake.”

He added: “They seem to have been in India for quite some time. They have named one Devender Batra, a resident of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, as the kingpin.”