Dhaka: Foreign nationals staying in Bangladesh are currently under close surveillance, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Wednesday.

The monitoring on the foreign nationals began in light of the recent ATM card forgery scandal in which a German national, Piotr Szczepan Mazurek, was arrested, the minister said while talking to reporters at the Secretariat.

The minister also said efforts are underway to make sure that strict cross-checking is done at all immigration counters to prevent the entry of foreigners with any forged passport or false visa.

Citing a recent survey conducted by his ministry, he said over 2.6 lakh foreigners are working in Bangladesh in various sectors, such as RMG, NGOs and other consultancy services, both in and out of Dhaka city.

With the ongoing monitoring, the minister said, notices will be issued to those whose visas are reaching the expiry dates and about deportation of those staying in Bangladesh country despite the expiry of their visas.

Asked about Piotr’s involvement in the card scandal, the minister said that at first he showed a Polish passport, which was then found to be forged and later a German smart card was recovered from him.

On his arrival to Bangladesh, he had declared business as his reason for visiting, but as part of a bigger global fraud syndicate, he married a local woman and wanted to stay in the country and committed more crimes through fraudulence.

Most of Piotr’s associates have been arrested and those are still on the run will be hunted down soon, Kamal added.

Sought comments on the recent murders of children, especially the siblings killing in Banasree, he termed those ‘dreadful’ and ‘inhuman’.

About the initiative of police to collect tenants’ information, he said his ministry’s intention is to ensure that everyone does not remain in the dark about their next-door neighbours as terrorists can carry out their activities and turn any house as weapons/explosives-making laboratories.

If there is proper identification of all the tenants in the city, then quicker action can be taken, he said.