Three Pakistanis held in Bengaluru with Indian identity cards

Bengaluru, May 25 (IANS) Three suspected Pakistan nationals, including two women, were arrested in the city with fake Indian identity cards and fake passports, police said on Thursday.

"The suspects from Karachi in Pakistan have been identified as Khasif Shamshuddin, 30, his wife Kiron Gulam Ali, 25, and another woman -- Sameera Abdul Rehman, 25," Bengaluru Police Commissioner Praveen Sood told reporters here.

An Indian -- Mohammed Sihad, 30, from Kochi in the neighbouring Kerala state and husband of Sameera -- was also arrested as their accomplice.

The city Crime Branch police found the accused staying in a rented house in the city's south-west suburb following a raid after a tip-off.

"Preliminary inquiry revealed that the Pakistani suspects obtained Aadhar cards and voter's card (EPIC-Elector Photo Identity Card) to fake their identity as Indians," said Sood.

On interrogation, police learnt that Sihad married Sameera while he was working in Qatar in the Gulf region two years ago despite opposition from her parents.

The Pakistani trio first reached Patna in Bihar after crossing the Indo-Nepal border from Kathmandu a year ago. They came to Nepal from Qatar via Muscat in Oman.

"We also learnt that the accused have been living in the city over the past nine months, with fabricated documents that were made with the help of local agents," said Sood.

A case has been registered against the accused under the relevant sections of the Passport Act and the Foreigners' Act.

"We will do the formalities, including informing the Pakistani Embassy and producing them in a local court for remand to investigate their presence in the city," added Sood.