Guwahati: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) reportedly detained three Bangladeshi nationals at Lumding railway station in Assam on Monday after an operation aboard the Guwahati–Sairang Express, according to preliminary information.
The three men were identified as Bilal Hussain, Amir Ali and Hassan Mia, residents of Sunamganj district in Bangladesh. They were detained from train number 15609, the Guwahati–Sairang Express.
Initial accounts suggest the men entered India through the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal’s Murshidabad region, although the exact timeline of their entry remains unclear. The men reportedly gave differing accounts of their movements.
Ali told authorities that he had paid a suspected tout Rs 3,000–4,000 to facilitate his entry into India. “I had been living in Kashmir for the past six months and had crossed the border through Murshidabad,” he told the press after being detained.
Mia, meanwhile, reportedly said he had been staying in India for around two months and was travelling to Badarpur. He claimed to have paid a tout Rs 5,000 to cross into India through the Murshidabad border.
Other preliminary information suggests that the three men had travelled to Uttar Pradesh, where they allegedly worked as labourers.
Their movements, the circumstances of their entry into India and the alleged payments to intermediaries remain subject to verification. The identities of the suspected touts and whether others were involved in facilitating their entry were not immediately known.
Further details, including the agency to which the men were handed over and the legal action initiated against them, were not immediately available. An official statement from the RPF was awaited.