Key Takeaways
- Bangladeshi citizens living illegally in Navi Mumbai were arrested by Maha ATS, as part of a joint operation with Pune Rural police.
- The Bangladeshi citizens made fake Aadhaar cards to open bank accounts and posed as Indian citizens without disclosing their identity.
- The money trail is currently under investigation, with more people suspected to be involved in the hawala transaction.
On Thursday, December 21, the Maharashtra ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) arrested two Bangladeshi citizens, living illegally in Navi Mumbai. The arrests took place after ATS officials raided a residential area in Navi Mumbai’s Kamothe township.
Prior to this, in a joint operation of the ATS and the Pune Rural police, eight other Bangladeshis were nabbed from the Narayangaon town in Pune district. The Mumbai Crime Branch, too, arrested nine Bangladeshi citizens who were involved in producing fake Aadhar cards, and illegally transferring money from India to Bangladesh. This money trail is now under investigation after arrests were made in Mumbai, Thane, and Navi Mumbai.
Raj Tilak Roushan, DCP, Crime Branch, said, ‘A total of nine Bangladesh citizens have been arrested. Their modus operandi was that they used to transfer money from India to Bangladesh illegally. More people seem to be involved in this. It is a kind of hawala transaction. The money trail is currently under investigation. They used to transfer money through individuals who were crossing borders from India to Bangladesh or vice versa.’
The Bangladeshi citizens made fake Aadhaar cards after entering India, using fake documents to open bank accounts and posing as Indian citizens without revealing their true identities.
Other than this, two more accused were also caught from Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, by the Crime Branch, and have been identified as Mohammed Yunus Abdul Sheikh (32), and Mohammed Riyaz Ul Abdul Mandal (47). The duo has been accused of providing funds for illegal immigration across the Indo-Bangladesh border.
GoaChronicle has earlier talked, in great detail, about how such illegal settlements of Bangladeshi citizens continue to thrive in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, while the authorities do absolutely nothing.
