Two Bangladeshi nationals were arrested in Darjeeling district on Saturday for their allegedly illegal entry into India.

Sources said a team of the 41st battalion of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) that guards the India-Nepal border apprehended the two Bangladeshis on the old bridge in Panitanki (located around 35km from Siliguri) while they were attempting to enter India from Nepal illegally.

Md Noor Hossen Khondokar and Md Omar Faruqe Arman are from Feni and Madaripur in Bangladesh, respectively.

The SSB personnel seized five cellphones, Bangladeshi identity cards, Nepalese currency and SIM cards from the two.

During the preliminary investigation, the SSB found that Noor had infiltrated into India through the Sylhet–Tripura route around eight months back with the help of a Bangladeshi agent, and had travelled to Nepal with him.

The agent had promised to send him to Romania and had returned to Bangladesh with Noor’s passport, leaving him stranded in Nepal.

Omar had flown from Dhaka to Kathmandu in January with the help of another Bangladeshi agent who had assured him that he would be sent to Croatia and
then France.

The duo were stranded in Nepal and met each other. They contacted an Indian who asked them to come to the India-Nepal border and assured them that he would send them back to Bangladesh. The agent met them at Kakarvitta in Nepal, which is on the other side of Panitanki, and left after taking their cash.

When he did not return, the duo took an e-rickshaw and headed for Panitanki, where they were held.

Smuggler nabbed

A Bangladesh national suspected to be a cattle smuggler who had taken refuge in the Baishnabnagar police station area of Malda was arrested on Saturday, along with two residents who sheltered him.

The arrested were Kashim Ali, who is from Chapai-Nawabganj district of Bangladesh, and Bharat Mandal and his brother Sudarshan, who live in Jot-Chainpara village of Baishnabnagar.

Additional reporting by our Malda correspondent