Police to Recheck Documents of All Passport Holders in Deoband After Arrests of Suspected Terrorists

Lucknow: In the wake of two suspected Bangladeshi terrorists being arrested with Indian passports issued on a Deoband address, the Saharanpur police is now verifying documents of all the passport holders in the region.

SSP Bablu Kumar has asked the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) and police to verify the documents of all the passport holders in Deoband and adjoining areas.

“Recently, some suspected militants from Bangladesh were arrested by the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) from Deoband and other areas. The investigators recovered fake passports and other documents from their possession, soon after which the new orders to re-examine documents of all passport holders was issued,” SSP Kumar said.

Uttar Pradesh ATS arrested Bangladeshi national Abdullah Al-Mamon in August 2017. He is a member of banned terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and had been living in Deoband for many years.

About 20 other Bangladeshi men, who are suspected to be in touch with the terror organization, have since gone missing in western Uttar Pradesh.

A few days back, active members of the banned Bangladeshi terror outfit were arrested by the ATS while Saharanpur police did not have a clue about the ATS’ operation. This raises some serious questions about the Saharanpur police’s intelligence department.

Meanwhile, the ATS also suspects the involvement or laxity of a few local police personnel, who are supposed to do a background check of all passport applicants.

The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government has already has asked all District Magistrates to identify and act against Bangladeshi nationals living illegally in their respective districts.

The identification process of illegal Bangladeshi migrants is already underway in the state.

In a letter, Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar has asked all DMs to take stern action against officials who had verified the documents of these Bangladeshi nationals during their illegal stay in Deoband.