60 foreigners detained in Greater Noida for staying without valid papers

Among those detained, some were found staying in India on an expired visa, while others were in possession of forged visa documents. They have been taken to the Surajpur police lines and police have deportation procedures.

The Gautam Budh Nagar district police Wednesday detained 60 foreign nationals— 32 men and 28 women— for staying in the country without valid papers.

Police said 35 persons were found living illegally in Alstonia Society in Sector Pi, 20 in Sector Sigma 3, four persons in Mystic Greens society in Omicron 1, and one in Palm Greens society in Sector Mu. Image used for representational purpose only. (Photo by Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times)

Among those detained, some were found staying in India on an expired visa, while others were in possession of forged visa documents, police said. They have been taken to the Surajpur police lines and police have deportation procedures.

The detained persons are from Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Ivory Coast, Angola, Malawi and Philippines. “We recovered 222 beer bottles meant for sale in Delhi, 3.5kg marijuana, six laptops and 114 SIM cards,” Gautam Budh Nagar SSP Vaibhav Krishna said.

Police conducted a drive, Operation Clean -10, from 6am to 10am. “We checked 320 foreign nationals, of whom 60 were found living in the country illegally,” he said.

‘Operation Clean’ was launched in the district on July 1 to ‘fix issues affecting common man’. Every day, the police are conducting special drives against traffic violators, drunk driving, drinking in public places, illegal spa centres, etc. Action against foreign nationals is the 10th drive under ‘Operation Clean’.

Krishna said visas of nine persons had expired, while eight had forged visa documents. “Some persons refused to show us their credentials and, hence, they were detained,” he said.

Krishna said the exercise was conducted based on inputs provided by police informers. He said three checking squads headed by SP (city), SP (rural) and circle officers conducted the raids.

A Nigerian national, requesting anonymity, said, “Some of those detained may be students. The Indian government recently revised the visa fee and students were unable to arrange the money. We have approached the embassy and the ministry of external affairs for a solution.”

Krishna, however, said a majority of detained persons was not students. “They also had no valid work permit. We have not pressed any IPC sections against them. Had we done that, they would have been sent to judicial custody. We are initiating the process to deport them and are in touch with respective embassies,” Krishna said

Charles Kennedy, president of Nigerian Citizen Welfare association, said 20 detained foreign nationals later produced their documents and police are verifying them.

“We are looking into the matter and cooperating with the police in the investigation,” Kennedy said.

SP (city) Vineet Jaiswal said, “If documents are found valid, then we will release those persons. We will also be acting against landlords who gave them flats, as it is their duty to check papers before renting out flats.”