Five Bangladeshi nationals, arrested in Meghalaya for illegal entry, fake Aadhaar Cards seized

In a significant crackdown on illegal immigration, Meghalaya Police arrested five Bangladeshi nationals along with an Indian driver in Ri-Bhoi district on Wednesday, April 10 evening for travelling without valid documents. The arrests took place during a routine check on National Highway-6 as the group was en route to Guwahati, Assam, Superintendent of Police Vivekanand Singh confirmed on Thursday.

The arrested Bangladeshi nationals have been identified as Sahin Akhtar and Mozibor Rahman from Bhola district, and Prasanto Das, Mamadur Rahman, and his wife Suma Akhtar from Mymensingh. The Indian driver, Mukaddes Ali, hails from Kamrup Metro district in Assam.

According to the police, the group entered Indian territory illegally through Cheragaon, under the Sohra police station jurisdiction in East Khasi Hills district. Preliminary investigations reveal that they had each paid ₹16,000 to a Bangladeshi tout, who had promised to facilitate their journey to Bengaluru via Shillong and Guwahati.

Authorities also recovered fake Aadhaar cards from the arrested individuals, raising concerns about the use of forged Indian identity documents to aid illegal movement across borders.

Efforts are currently underway to trace and apprehend the touts involved in the smuggling network.

Meghalaya, which shares a 443-kilometre-long international border with Bangladesh, remains vulnerable to cross-border infiltration. Approximately 80 percent of the border is unfenced, primarily due to challenging terrain and riverine stretches, making surveillance and enforcement particularly difficult.