Tunda arrest puts spotlight back on India-Nepal border

Lashkar-e-Taiba big fish Abdul Karim Tunda’s arrest from the India-Nepal border has again brought to fore the porous nature of the boundary, which makes security officials in UP particularly jittery. Rajesh Kumar Singh reports. Delhi Police land LeT big fish Tunda | High connections

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) big fish Abdul Karim Tunda’s arrest from the India-Nepal border has again brought to fore the porous nature of the boundary, which makes security officials in Uttar Pradesh particularly jittery.

HT Image

A large number UP districts border Nepal.

Tunda was nabbed on Friday from Banwasa-Mehendarnagar area on the border, a day after Independence Day.

Following an alert from the Intelligence Bureau on August 12 that terrorists might sneak into UP to hit select targets around Independence Day, the state police had increased vigil.

The superintendents of police of bordering Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Balrampur, Shravasti, Bahraich, Lakhimpur Kheri and Pilibhit districts were advised to monitor the activities of the suspicious persons.

According to UP inspector general of police (law and order) RK Vishwakarma, the India-Nepal border is not only porous, but also very difficult to monitor.

A Nepalese visiting India does not require passport or visa and vice-versa, he had told HT on Monday after the bordering district SPs were asked to increase vigil. He had added that similarities in the look and build of Indians, Pakistanis and Nepalese also made the task of monitoring the border difficult.

“A Pakistani can slip into India through the India-Nepal border and return after carrying out nefarious activities.”

Security officials are also grappling with fake Indian currency being pumped into the state by Pakistani agents active on the border.

On July 26, the UP special task force had arrested suspected ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence service) operative and fake currency racket kingpin Imran Ahmed Teli aka Aftab in Lucknow.

He told the police a large number of Pakistanis were involved in the fake currency and gun running racket along the India-Nepal border, said a security official who did not want to be named.

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