A Bangladeshi national has been arrested for faking his identity and residing in Malda district for the past seven years as an Indian citizen.

Pradip Kumar Yadav, the district police chief, said, Rabiul Haque, a resident of Thakurgaon district of Bangladesh, had infiltrated into India seven years ago and was staying at the house of Jhatu Sheikh, his uncle, at Raninagar, a village under Pukhuria police station of the district.

On Wednesday, Haque was called by officials of the district intelligence branch for verification as he had applied for an Indian passport.

“He reached there with Sheikh, whom he had introduced as his father. As a sub-inspector posted at the branch spoke with them, he felt suspicious. Both were initially detained and during interrogation, they spilled the beans. Later, the duo were arrested. Cases have been registered against them at Englishbazar police station,” said Yadav.

A police officer said Haque used Sheikh’s identity as his father to make an Indian voter card and Aadhaar card. “He then used these documents to open a bank account. Now, he was planning to get an Indian passport,” the officer added.

“During these years, Haque worked as a migrant worker in Kerala. He had also visited Bangladesh and returned. During investigation, it was found that he had even managed to get a certificate from a primary school of Malda district to prove his nationality,” the officer informed.

The police have recovered a Bangladeshi SIM card from Haque.

“We are checking whether he has transferred funds to Bangladesh through his bank account and are examining all the documents which he had gathered illegally. Sheikh, his relative, has been arrested for impersonating as his father and for helping in such acts,” said Yadav.

In another incident, troops of the 15 battalion of the BSF posted at Dahikhata border outpost in Jalpaiguri district on Thursday apprehended a person and seized four gold bars from him.

The arrested youth, identified as Joy Kumar Murmu alias Luddu, a resident of Saotalpara village of the district, and the gold bars have been handed over to Customs officials in Fulbari.

In another raid, the 174 battalion of the force posted at the border in South Dinajpur seized 200 bottles of cough syrup.

Manjir Miya, a resident of Paharbanga village of the district, has been arrested in this connection. He was later handed over to Kumarganj police.

During the past 48 hours, the BSF have seized various items in north Bengal, which include a jar containing suspected snake venom. The cost of the seized items is around Rs 12.26 crore, said sources.