NOWSHERA: Eighteen Afghan students were arrested and later deported to Afghanistan from a religious seminary in Akora Khattak during a raid conducted jointly by the security forces and the police here on Friday.

DSP Akora Khattak Tariq Iqbal confirmed the arrest of Afghan nationals, saying that police and security personnel raided Darul Uloom-i-Hanfia, Akora Khattak, on secret information collected by security agencies that Afghan students were staying illegally in the seminary.

The students were identified as Rohan, Zahidullah, Samiullah, Mohammad Dad, Abdul Baseer, Hamidullah, Ismail, Ilham, Mokaram, Mohammad Zahir, Habibullah, Mohammad Bilal, Jalal, Abdullah, Safiullah, Khyal Wali and Ahmad Wali.

Police said that the detainees were presented before the court of civil judge and judicial magistrate, Syed Hamid Qasim, who imposed a fine of Rs1,000 on each student and ordered their deportation to Afghanistan.

They said that the students were later deported to Afghanistan via Torkham boarder.

The police said that administrator of the seminary, Maulvi Dost Mohammad Haqqani, was also arrested and shifted to undisclosed location for interrogation. — Correspondent

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2015

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