UP shopkeeper held for helping Rohingya man get passport

A shopkeeper was arrested here for allegedly helping a Rohingya man to get an Indian passport, police said on Tuesday.

Izharul Haq is a resident of Bilthara Road town of the district and owns a bangle shop in Vishunipur locality, they said.

Haq was arrested from Pauharipur on Gadwar Marg on Monday, police said, adding that he helped Rohingya refugee Arman alias Abu Talha get a passport.

A team of Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Varanasi arrested Talha and Abdul Amin from here on March 14 and recovered three Indian passports and many Aadhaar cards, two Indian voter ID cards, a PAN card, a UNHRC card, an ATM card, some foreign currency, two mobile phones and a foreign SIM card from their possession.

Arman had told police that he is a Rohingya refugee and had come to India in 2008. He used to work at a shop in Manipur and later moved to Ballia and started living in a rented house in the Umar Ganj locality.

Before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, a former village head's brother provided him with a voter card, on the basis of which he subsequently obtained PAN and Aadhaar cards.

Haq helped him get a passport on the basis of which, he went to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for work.