BUNER, April 18: Police raided a Madressah on Friday and arrested 29 foreign students. Sources in the seminary, Madressah-i-Bilal, at Bhai Kalae, said all the 29 students were arrested on charges of overstaying and were shifted to Islamabad.

The arrested students are stated to be between 10 and 15 years of age. Most of them belong to Central Asian states, Egypt, Jordan and some other Arab countries.

It is learnt that the federal government declined to extend the visas of these students after which the interior ministry directed police to pick them up. These students had taken admission in the Madressah for Hifz (learning Holy Quran by heart).

Eyewitnesses said all the students were crying and requesting the police that they should be allowed to remain in the seminary. However, their request fell on deaf ears. The police denied any such incident having taken police.