2 arrested in Odisha for providing shelter to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants

Bhubaneswar/Paradip, Nov 22 (PTI) Two persons were arrested on Saturday for allegedly providing shelter to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district, police said.

Those arrested were identified as Sikandar Alam alias Siko and his brother Abdul Motalif Khan alias Tiki.

The duo has been on the run ever since the police raided a house built to provide shelter to the illegal immigrants in Berhampur village in the Jagatsinghpur Sadar police station area on November 16.

While Sikandar was nabbed from Jajpur, Abdul was apprehended from Khurda district, a police officer said.

Their two sisters were earlier arrested for attacking the police during the raid.

Sikandar had built houses on government land to provide shelter to the infiltrators. He also used to arrange Indian documents for them, police said.

"A number of fake Aadhaar cards and voter identity cards were recovered from the house," another officer said.

The house was demolished by the district administration on November 17.

Around 30 Bangladeshis were staying in the house when the raid was conducted, and all of them managed to flee. Police said a search is underway for them.

A drive is also underway in Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Khurda, Balasore, Puri and Keonjhar districts to detect illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. PTI COR AAM AAM SOM