8 Bangladeshis held in Andhra Pradesh for 'entering India illegally' 

Police in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh today detained eight Bangladeshi nationals, who had allegedly entered India illegally, from a train.

The Railway Protection Force detained four of them in Rajamahendravaram while the Vijayawada city police apprehended the rest when they were going by the Howrah-Vasco da Gama (Goa) Express train, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Police were on alert following a recent parcel bomb explosion in Darbhanga railway station in Bihar, and on a tip-off, intercepted the Bangladeshis, Andhra Pradesh police sources said.

During inquiry, police claimed to have found out that the Bangladeshis clandestinely entered India.

The Bangladeshis had no official documents, including passports, with them but carried fake Aadhar cards, PAN cards (for financial transaction and payment of income tax) and voter IDs with an address in Bengaluru.

According to police sources, the Bangladeshis claimed they stayed in the western state of Goa from 2017 to 2019.

After the Covid-19 outbreak last year, they went back to Bangladesh only to return to Goa in June this year.

"We have completed a preliminary inquiry and a detailed investigation has begun," North Zone Assistant Commissioner of Police Shanu Sheikh said in Vijayawada.

Along with the fake ID cards, police confiscated the mobile phones from the Bangladeshis against whom a case has been registered.