Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) said on Monday that their personnel manning the Panitanki India-Nepal border in Darjeeling district of West Bengal have arrested two illegal intruders at the borders.

The arrests were made on Saturday.

Fake Indian identity documents like that of Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and driving licenses were seized from them. After initial investigation, one of the two persons arrested has been identified as Andrew James, a resident of New Zealand. The other person arrested has been identified as Mohammad Nurul Islam, a resident of Bangladesh.

It is learnt that the personnel of the 8th battalion of SSB first arrested the citizen of New Zealand while he was trying to enter the Indian side by furnishing these forged documents. After interrogating him, the central armed force personnel bordering the India- Nepal border arrested the Bangladeshi resident from near the border outpost and seized similar forged documents from him.

Later the SSB personnel handed them over to the local Kharibari Police station. State police sources said that these two illegal intruders managed to get their forged Indian identity documents from some local agency through a local tout. The local police have already started search operations of those involved in making forged documents.

Both will be presented at the Siliguri sub- divisional court on Monday. The police are learnt to be especially investigating the actual nexus between Andrew James and Mohammad Nurul Islam.

Of late, smuggling of wildlife species and high-price snake- venoms have increased manifold through this corridor of north Bengal and in the recent period there had been several such seizures following joint operations conducted for the purpose.

“It is to be seen whether the two nabbed were parts of this wildlife and snake- venom smuggling or they are parts of any bigger conspiracy,” said a local police official who did not wish to be named.