In last two years, cops identified and deported around 800 foreigners staying illegally in Dwarka district.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police is cracking down heavily on foreigners staying illegally in the national capital without a valid visa, and Dwarka district of the Delhi police is leading this mission of identifying and deporting such illegal foreigners from the front.
Between January 2021 and March 2023, the police in Dwarka alone identified and deported around 800 foreign nationals staying illegally in the Dwarka district in South West Delhi. Last year, the Dwarka police was able to identify, nab and deport over 437 foreign nationals who were staying illegally in the Dwarka district of Delhi, while this year, so far, 54 foreign nationals staying illegally have been deported by this district police alone.
The South District of Delhi Police identified and detained over 100 foreign nationals between September last year and January this year, who had been illegally staying in the South District of the national capital.According to Delhi Police, African nationals have been found to be the most notorious among all others in illegally staying in India. Most of these individuals had travelled to India on a tourist visa for six months, but decided to stay back in India, despite their visas getting expired.
According to data from the Dwarka district, 382 Nigerians, including 38 females, have been apprehended so far for illegally staying in India; 30 from Ivory Coast, six from Uganda, two from Cameroon, 12 from Ghana, one each from Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, Guinean, and one from Uzbekistan have been arrested and deported so far from the Dwarka district police.
Even in the South district, most of the identified illegal foreigners belonged from African countries. Out of the 101 identified and deported so far, more than 75 of them are from Nigeria, while atleast 10 are from Congo, and some from other African nations like that of Kenya, Cameroon, etc.
According to Delhi Police, most of these individuals are involved in drug trafficking, and some are also involved in prostitution. The Delhi police has been cracking down heavily on the menace of drug trafficking in the national capital and many of the peddlers of party drugs like Methaqualone, LSD, cocaine and heroin are seen to have been smuggled and peddled by African nationals who have been illegally staying in India.
Harsha Vardhan Mandava, DCP, Dwarka District, told The Sunday Guardian, “We have undertaken a zero tolerance policy on allowing foreigners to stay illegally here in India. Through our different teams in the district, we have been able to successfully crackdown and nab hundreds of such foreigners who have been illegally overstaying in this district. We have also seen that many of these individuals are involved in illegal activities in the city, which includes drug trafficking and peddling. The mission to identify and nab more such individuals are ongoing.”
According to the police, once these foreign nationals are caught overstaying they are presented before the FRRO (Foreigners Registration Office) who then send them to detention centres and inform the respective embassy to deport them to their home country. However, if one is involved in any crime, they are dealt by the local laws of the country and sent to custody as per the law. Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Vinai Saxena, have also issued directions to the Delhi Police Commissioner, Sanjay Arora, earlier this year to heavily crack down on illegal foreigners who are staying in Delhi ahead of the G20 meet later this year. Arora has also asked all his district police chiefs to identify and initiate proceedings against such illegal foreigners in the city to ensure that no law-and-order situation is created in the national capital during the G20 summit, slated to be held later this year.
Earlier this month, a group of African nationals residing in Neb Sarai of South Delhi clashed with the Delhi Police, when three Delhi Police officers had gone to the area to search and catch hold of all illegally staying foreigners in the district.