Shillong, May 12: A Bangladeshi national was nabbed with an Indian passport supposedly issued by the Regional Passport Office in Guwahati.

The person who was apprehended by BSF personnel was lodged in a jail in the US from the late 1990s for five years.

Based on intelligence tip-off, around 11.30pm last night BSF personnel of the 108 battalion deployed at Lyngkhat border outpost apprehended the Bangladeshi national from an area near border pillar (BP) number 1266/6-S in East Khasi Hills district while he was trying to infiltrate into India.

While it could have been just another detention, the recovery of a photocopy of an Indian passport from Rashel Khan, 32, son of Haji Mustaba Khan from Moulvi Bazar in Bangladesh revealed that there was more to it than meets the eye.

The village falls under Moulvi Bazar district of Bangladesh.

The BSF recovered a photocopy of a passport of Rashel allegedly in the name of one Islam Saiful, a resident of Nagaon in Assam, issued by the Guwahati Regional Passport Office.

According to a communiqué issued by BSF public relations officer Ravi Gandhi, the passport was procured from one Sarifuddin of Barpokri village in Assam’s Nagaon district.

“As divulged by Rashel Khan, the original copy of the passport was with Sarifuddin, who was going to hand it over to him,” Gandhi said, adding that Rashel Khan was scheduled to fly to Saudi Arabia on May 25 from Mumbai.

The official said preliminary interrogation had found that Rashel Khan, alias Islam Saiful, was in jail in the state of Washington, US, from 1998 to 2003. It was not immediately clear under what charges he had been jailed.

Gandhi said the Nagaon superintendent of police had been alerted by the BSF to apprehend Sarifuddin, the man who had facilitated the procuring of the Indian passport.

The BSF recovered fake currency of Rs 90,000 in denomination of Rs 500, Rs 650 in cash, besides a mobile phone from the infiltrator.