Nigerian national arrested in Greater Noida for illegal stay
In its drive against foreign nationals staying illegally in Greater Noida, police arrested a Nigerian for overstaying on an expired visa
In its drive against foreign nationals staying illegally in Greater Noida, police on Thursday arrested a 26-year-old Nigerian national, Ilegah, for overstaying on an expired visa.
Ilegah will be handed over to the Nigerian high commission on Friday, after which his deportation process will start.
According to police, Ilegah had arrived in India on March 2016 on a three-month medical tourism visa as an attendant for a patient. He had registered himself at a police station in Faridabad upon his arrival. His visa had expired in June 2016, upon which he had successfully applied for an extension. However, his extended visa also expired on December 9, 2016.
“We were conducting door-to-door search operations for illegal foreign nationals in Greater Noida when we found Ilegah in Omicron society. Upon seeing his travel documents, we discovered that his visa had expired on December 9 last year and he was staying on an expired visa. We have arrested him,” said Mahavir Singh, inspector, Local Intelligence Unit.
Police are finding out the details of the patient with whom Ilegah had arrived in India. However, they added that they did not find any evidence of Ilegah engaging in anti-social activity.
“He was staying alone in a rented apartment and upon conducting a search in his room, we did not find anything illegal in his house, apart from his stay on expired visa,” said Singh.
According to superintendent of police (rural), Sujata Singh, Thursday was the third day of the search operation conducted by the police.
“Till now, we have found one foreign national staying illegally in Greater Noida. A similar search was conducted in November month last year in which two foreign nationals were held. We are trying our best to deport all foreign nationals in Greater Noida found staying illegally,” she said.
Earlier, police had discovered a Kenyan national Maria Burendi staying on expired visa. She had lodged an alleged fake complaint with the police regarding a racial attack on her.
The search operation comes in the wake of recent racial attacks by locals against Africans staying in Greater Noida. On March 27, at least six African citizens were injured when a mob attacked them at various public places in Greater Noida. Following the attack, the police had arrested six persons and issued a travel advisory for African people asking them to avoid travelling alone in the area.
The advisory was lifted this week on Monday and security measures were relaxed as the situation returned to normal in the area.
