The arrested, identified as Haripada Mondal, Ram Krishna Mondal, Ananta Naskar, Shaymal Ghose, Basudev Nashkar, Kritta Mondal, Rita Ghose and Suleklha Goshe, hail from Bashurhat in North 24 Pargana district of West Bengal. They entered Bangladesh in a microbus.

Bhomra BDR camp in-charge Havilder Abdul Jalil said they nabbed the Indian nationals from Ashashuni upazila where they were scheduled to perform 'Kirtan' (religious song) on the day.

The Indians claimed that they are the members of a 'Kirtan group' and wanted to visit different Hindu-populated areas to perform religious songs. But they had no musical instruments with them, which aroused suspicion about their motive, Havilder Jalil said.