Kolkata, Dec 18 (IANS): Seven illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and one local agent were arrested by the cops of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Monday from the premises of the Howrah Station near Kolkata.

Sources said that the RPF got a tip-off that some illegal immigrants from Bangladesh were arriving by train. On Monday morning, the RPF cordoned off the Howrah Station premises and started hunting for the immigrants.

After an extensive search they were able to track the seven illegal immigrants, which included four men and three women. They have been identified as Md Kausar, Usman Sheikh, Kabir Hussain, Hakim Sheikh, Chalna Begum, Minara Begum and Tanha Tania. In addition to that, a local agent Sheikh Jakir, who was responsible for arranging the illegal entry of these seven Bangladeshi citizens into India, was also nabbed by the RPF men.

None of them had valid visas for India and they entered the country illegally through the Indo- Bangladesh borders near Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

They were supposed to go to Bengaluru from Kolkata, where Sheikh Jakir had promised them jobs as construction workers.

Police have started probing whether they really came to India with the hope of getting jobs or if they are part of any insurgency racket.

Meanwhile, in a related incident, Hooghly district police arrested two Bangladeshi youths from Mogra area on Monday. The two arrested Bangladeshi citizens, Biplab Das and Ratan Das, crossed the border illegally some time ago, settled down in Mogra and started earning their livelihood as vegetable vendors at a local market.

However, their dialect raised doubts in the minds of the local people about their origins and finally on Monday they informed the local police.

The cops detained and started interrogating them and the two men admitted that they were residents of the port city of Chittagong in Bangladesh. They also admitted to entering India without valid visas and other related documents.