Twenty six Bangladeshi nationals were arrested from a textile export unit near Palladam in Tiruppur district for staying without the necessary documents, in a surprise operation by a team of Q Branch police.

Acting on a tip-off that Bangladeshi nationals were among the workforce mostly consisting of youths from states in Northern part of India, a team rounded up the labourers at the end of duty hours and handed them over to the Palladam police.

Of them, 20 workers had joined work five months ago and the remaining six had been with the export unit for the last three years, police sources said, adding that more number of workers of Bangladesh origin were likely to be arrested.

Bogus documents were seized from six workers. The arrest of the 26 workers was effected under the Foreigners Act of 1946.

This is the second time a large number of Bangladeshi nationals were arrested in Tiruppur district this year.

In an operation by the jurisdictional police and Coimbatore unit of Anti-Terrorist Squad during January, 31 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested – 28 from Palladam limits, and the rest from the limits of Veerapandi and Nallur police stations.