Police in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri have arrested 18 Bangladeshi nationals during the past 24 hours.

In Siliguri, a team of the Government Railway Police (GRP) intercepted eight Bangladeshis travelling in a ladies’ compartment of the Haldibari-bound Radhikapur Express.

As the GRP officials sought their identity proofs, it was found that they were Bangladeshi and were going to Haldibari near the India-Bangladesh border to return to their homeland and evade arrests in India.

The BSF in Jalpaiguri detained 10 Bangladeshis, including two minors, near the international border on Sunday. They were handed over to the Kotwali police station, where police arrested them.

The group was apprehended at Joypur, an area under the jurisdiction of Nagar Berubari panchayat, in Jalpaiguri Sadar block near the border. The detainees, sources said, had infiltrated into India and were illegally living here for quite some time.

They were attempting to return to their home country following the recent regime change in Bengal.

Among those detained, three are from Jashore, four from Chattogram, and the others from Khulna, Satkhira and Kushtia districts of Bangladesh.

They will stay at the district’s holding centre until further legal procedures are carried out, said a source.