Overstaying foreign nationals beware! You are on the police radar

NT Correspondent

The state government will not allow overstaying foreign nationals to make Bengaluru City a haven for all kinds of nefarious activities, said Home Minister Araga Jnanendra.

Replying to a calling attention motion by Y. Narayanaswamy of BJP in the Legislative Council here on Tuesday, he said 296 cases were booked against 441 foreign nationals. They will not be allowed to return to their homeland till the cases are settled in court and they will be kept in detention centres.

Araga said from Jan 1 to December 31, 2021, 675 cases of overstaying have been booked against various foreign nationals. The jurisdictional police have been asked to keep an eye on them so that they don’t indulge in nefarious activities.

The life of ordinary people has been made miserable due to illegal activities by such nationals. In 2020, 160 criminal cases were filed against them for indulging in criminal activities and 159 cases under the NDPS Act. Most of them are involved in drug trafficking, robbery, theft, flesh trade and other criminal activities, he said.

Narayanaswamy said according to his information, over 10,000 foreign nationals are overstaying in Bengaluru alone. Their modus operandi was to commit petty offences and make the cops book cases. Once the cases are registered they would stay back here waiting for the cases to be disposed of in courts. Even people from Bangladesh, Congo and a few African countries are overstaying in the state capital, he added.

Salim Ahmed (Congress) alleged that most of them are involved in drug trafficking and the government must take stern action against them. Bharathi Shetty (BJP) suggested that the government take up a massive drive across the state to find the overstaying foreign nationals. Those nationals were not only staying in Mangaluru, Hubballi and Shivamogga but also in other cities.

The Home minister said the war on drugs was going on and crores worth banned drugs have been seized in the last six months. The size of the detention centres is very small and it was not possible to accommodate everyone.

The Nigerian women are physically strong and the police are finding it difficult to control them. Many of the overstaying Nigerian nationals are kept in detention centres. The cops are keeping an eye on such foreign nationals due to their alleged involvement in criminal activities.

People from Bangladesh have entered Bengaluru with fake documents and the cops have been asked to verify these documents to book cases against them. Each police station officer has been asked to conduct a survey of such illegal Bangladeshis and submit a detailed report within one month.