The Surathkal police on Thursday held eight Bangladeshi nationals working and staying illegally at a construction site in Surathkal.

After confirming that they were from Bangladesh and were staying in India without any valid documents, the police reported the matter to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Bengaluru. Subsequently, they were detained in a detention centre on the orders of the FRRO, Mangaluru City Commissioner of Police Sudheer Kumar Reddy said in a statement.

Based on specific information about the presence of some Bangladeshi nationals in a building under construction, the Surathkal police conducted a raid and inspected the records of a total of 54 construction workers. During the inspection, the eight Bangladeshi nationals were found to be residing illegally.

The police identified them as Md Muktar Ali, 36; Md Rakibur Hossen, 44; Md Ajarul Islam, 36; Md Zahid Hosen, 18; Md Belal Hossain, 36; Md Hasibul Hasan Shanto, 37; Md Sameul Hasan, 23; and Md Seibur Rahman, all from the Rajshahi region in Bangladesh.

Via Murshidabad

Mr. Reddy said the Bangladeshi nationals reportedly entered India via Murshidabad in West Bengal about three months ago illegally, without obtaining passports or visas. They then affixed their photographs to Aadhaar cards belonging to residents of Murshidabad and made colour copies of them. They have been engaged in construction work for the past two months in Surathkal.

The illegal immigrants were brought to the police station and thoroughly examined. When their identification cards, birth certificates and family records were checked, it was confirmed that they were residents of Bangladesh.

A report was submitted to the FRRO regarding the further action to be taken against them, Mr. Reddy said.

The operation was conducted under the guidance of Mangaluru North Assistant Commissioner of Police Srikanth by a team comprising Surathkal Police Inspector Pramod Kumar, PSI Raghu Nayak, station staff ASI Rajesh Alva, Tirupati Allolli, Umesh, Rajendra Prasad, Karthik, Vinod Kumar, Satish Sattigeri, Santosh and Omprakash Bingi.