31 from 10 African countries held in Dhaka

Detectives, in separate overnight raids, detained 31 foreign nationals from different parts of Dhaka city on charge of staying illegally in Bangladesh. Deputy Commissioner of the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (South) Krisna Pado Roy said ‘They (foreign nationals) were picked up in 147 separate drives in Rampura, Gulshan and Uttara areas from Thursday night to Friday. They have been residing in Bangladesh illegally for years,’ he said. Of the detainees, 12 from Nigeria, five from Uganda, four from Cameroon, three from Gambia, two from Ivory Coast and one each from Senegal, Kenya, Togo, Mali and Mozambique. Detectives said some foreign nationals specially from some African countries are reportedly found involved in committing different sorts of crimes in the city and elsewhere across the country. Meanwhile, a section of local media claimed that citizens from some Ebola-hit west African countries arrived in Bangladesh in the last several months and they are overstaying here, according to a news agency.