A total of 22 foreign nationals were arrested in Meghalaya in the last one month and out of them 19 were arrested in East Jaiñtia Hills district which shares the international border with Bangladesh.
The number of arrest increased following the arrest of five Nigerian nationals – two in East Jaiñtia Hills and three in West Jaiñtia Hills district.
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Also read: Meghalaya: West Jaintia Hills Police arrests 3 Nigerian nationals, 4 locals
The first arrest of nine Nigerian nationals was made in East Jaiñtia Hills district last month after they crossed over to India from Bangladesh.
The East Jaiñtia Hills superintendent of police, Vivekanand Singh, in a statement said on Thursday night at 11.15 pm, Ratacherra Check Post staff while conducting anti-infiltration checking, detected two suspected Nigerian nationals who were travelling in a night super bus (ML05-M-1899) from Agartala to Guwahati and they were detained for interrogation.
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They were identified as Victor Ojichukwu Ugo Okeke (30) and Ifechkwu Emmanuel (34), both from the state of Anambra in Nigeria.
“They could not produce any valid document to support their entry into India and hence they were arrested,” the SP said.
In this connection, a case [48 (10) 19] was registered at Lumshnong police station under section 14/14 A/14 C Foreigners’ Act and investigation has been started.
During preliminary investigation, police found that both the foreign nationals have only the photo copies of their passports and they claimed to have kept their original passports in Bangladesh and entered Tripura through the Indo-Bangla border.
“With these arrests, East Jaiñtia Hills Police has arrested 19 foreign nationals in the last one month. We are keeping a strict watch round-the-clock to thwart any such attempts in future as well,” Singh said.
EJH Police arrested two Nigerians today for illegally entering India (in Tripura) from Bangladesh. Total 19(Nineteen) African nationals operating with similar modus operandi have been arrested in last one month in the district.@HMOIndia@MEAIndia@MeghalayaPolice @BSF_India pic.twitter.com/jDtWRAsr3C
— ?? East Jaintia Hills Police ?? (@ejhpolice) October 10, 2019
Meanwhile, police have also arrested three Nigerian nationals from Pdengshakap area, about 10 km from Amlarem in West Jaiñtia Hills.
The arrested Nigerian nationals were identified as Chukwuma Celestine Okwuwa (34), Lucky Osas Enebi (36), and Ndubuisi Moses Chime (28).
A case has been registered against them with Amlarem police station under the Foreigner’s Act.
They told police that they had left Lagos in Nigeria on October 6, and reached Istanbul in Turkey on October 7, and on transit, they reached Dhaka on October 8.
The three Nigerian nationals were guided by one Bangladeshi national to one riverside from where they entered into India through a swampy area after they were not seen by BSF personnel who are manning the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Four local people from Syndai Kmaishnong village were also arrested for assisting the foreign nationals in crossing the border.
They were identified as Ronaldo Syndai (21), Ni Pohleng (20), Kliar Mon Pohthmi (18) and Rihok Chyrmang (28).
According to West Jaiñtia Hills SP Lakador Syiem, the local persons, who helped the foreigners, planned this activity with some Bangladeshi nationals to help them cross the international border.
Police have also seized a black Chevrolet spark (ML05-G-4952) used by the locals in ferrying the Nigerian nationals.