Mangaluru, Jan 10, 2025, IANS

Mangaluru, Jan 10 (IANS) A Bangladeshi national, who was living illegally in India, was arrested from a village in Karnataka's Mangaluru district, said officials on Friday. The accused is identified as 25-year-old Anurul Sheik. According to police, Sheik was arrested from the Mukka village on the outskirts of Mangaluru city. The Internal Security Division (ISD) and the Mangaluru police jointly carried out the operation and nabbed the accused following a tip-off. The preliminary investigations have revealed that the accused had sneaked into India from the Lalgol border (eastern West Bengal) area three years ago. The accused had come to Mangaluru and settled as a construction labourer. Initially, he came to Murshidabad in West Bengal and later moved to Mangaluru. Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara recently stated in the Legislative Council in Belagavi Suvarna Vidhana Soudha that the state police have detained 159 Bangladesh nationals and 24 Pakistani nationals staying illegally in the state. In addition to this, it has been found in the investigations that 115 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh were living in Karnataka. Parameshwara, answering a question stated, “A special unit has been formed to look into the matter of illegal immigrants and tracking them down. Illegal immigration into Indian territory is not a new phenomenon. Illegal immigrants are coming into the country in lakhs.” Earlier, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court, Bengaluru, on December 30, 2024, had sentenced a Bangladeshi terrorist Jahidul Islam aka Kausar, who was settled in Bengaluru. The accused was also involved in the cases connected with offences of dacoity, conspiracy and raising funds, as well as procurement of ammunition. As per NIA investigations, Jahidul Islam, the JMB Amir of India, along with absconding JMB head Salauddin Salehin had illegally crossed into India in 2014 after escaping the custody of Bangladesh Police in connection with the 2005 serial blasts in Bangladesh. During the hiding, he and his associates were involved in the October 2014 Burdwan blast case. After the blast, Jahidul and his aides fled to Bengaluru, where he radicalised and recruited gullible Muslim youths from West Bengal and Assam to further anti-India activities of JMB. The accused and his associates had also committed the blast in Bodh Gaya in January 2018.