Noida (UP): Seventeen foreigners, who were detained in Greater Noida for allegedly staying in the country without valid travel documents, have given police the slip, officials said Friday.
They were among the 60 foreigners from nine countries who were detained Wednesday over invalid visa and passport documents and faced deportation, the officials stated.
“Around 8.30pm Thursday, 17 of the foreigners escaped from the reserve police lines in Surajpur where they were lodged. They escaped after breaking open a bathroom window,” Gautam Buddh Nagar SP of Police Vaibhav Krishna told this agency.
Krishna said a police inquiry has been launched into the matter and searches are underway to trace the foreigners. “Superintendent of Police (City) Vineet Jaiswal will be carrying out the probe and submit a report in this matter,” he informed. “All 17 who fled were men,” he added.
Earlier Thursday, police had released 12 of the 60 foreigners who could produce valid travel documents.
Almost all of those detained are from eight African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Ivory Coast and Angola. Twenty-eight of them are women.
During the police inspection Wednesday, 222 beer bottles marked for sale in Delhi, 3.5 kilograms of cannabis, six laptops and 114 Airtel SIM cards were seized from their residences, police officials informed.
PTI