Hyderabad: Two Rohingya nationals who entered the country illegally and obtained Indian identification cards were arrested by the Balapur police on Monday. One of the accused got a passport and also visited Umra, Saudi Arabia, where he was caught by the Jeddah police and convicted for illegal stay of six months.
Abdul Khair alias Shaik Yusuf, 34, a native of Myanmar came to India, during the communal violence in Myanmar. He first entered Bangladesh and then entered India illegally. He was given refugee status by the United National High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2017 and has been living in a house at Fathima Masjid in Royal Colony at Balapur.
Working as a labourer for a meagre salary, Abdul was unable to meet his expenses. With the help of one Noor Alam of Balapur, he managed to get an Indian passport on November 14, 2017. Abdul then applied for a visa for Umra, a religious visit by Muslims to South Arabia, with a validity of 30 days.
Abdul was then caught by the police there, put in a Jedda prison and sent back to India. The Balapur police who received information about Abdul’s deportation caught him and seized his passport and UNHCR card, while the hunt to nab Noor Alam is on.
In another case, a Rohingya national Mohammed Ayub, 22 was arrested for obtaining an Aadhaar card by suppressing the fact that he was a refugee. Acting on a tip off, the accused was caught on Sunday evening and has been remanded to judicial custody by the police on Monday.
A police official from Balapur police station said, “Abdul paid '25,000 to Noor Alam to get the passport and Noor managed to bribe officials and got the job done. The passport was issued from a Rajendranagar residential address, and a probe is on to find out how he got a passport without verification.”
Mohammed Ayub, who was working as a labourer told the police that he was advised to apply for an Aadhaar card by another man in Shaheennagar. “Ayub claims that another labourer helped him getting the Aadhaar card, but does not know the process he followed. He will be taken into custody for further investigation,” said the police official.
In the last three months, the police have arrested about six Rohingya nationals who have obtained identification cards issued by the Government of India illegally. Three of them obtained passports also while the others managed to get Aadhaar and voter id cards.
On June 6, three of a family hailing from Myanmar were arrested for obtaining identification cards issued by the government and on May 29, two Rohingya nationals were held for obtaining Indian passports in order to fly to Malaysia for jobs.
