Noida: Three men claimed to be illegal Bangladeshi migrants were arrested by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police for allegedly selling firearms and indulging in looting and theft, officials said on Saturday.

The force nabbed the three men around 2.30 am from Jhansi, where they had been living illegally, the officials said.

“The Noida unit of the STF was working on cases of Bangladeshi citizens living in Uttar Pradesh without proper documentation.

“On the basis of a credible input, a team reached Jhansi on Friday and the accused were held from Raksa Mod on the Jhansi-Gwalior road,” the STF said in a statement.

The agency said it seized two illegal pistols and some ammunition from the possession of the accused who have been identified as Suleman alias Jilman, Aliman alias Mintu, and Zakir Khan alias Aslam – all natives of Bagerhat Khulna district in Bangladesh.

The accused worked as scrap dealers as a front but were engaged in sale of firearms and loots and thefts here, it said.

One of them told officials that his parents had also lived in India illegally in the past but have now gone back to Bangladesh and it was not the first time that he was staying in the country without proper documents, the statement read.

“During probe, the agency found out that the accused worked as scrap dealers in the day during which they also dealt in illegal firearms. At night, they attacked people for loot and theft whom they had already identified during their day’s job,” it added.

The STF said the three men have been engaged in illegal activities in various other districts of Uttar Pradesh, Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, and Mumbai.

An FIR has been lodged with the local police in Jhansi where further legal proceedings in the case are being carried out, the STF added.