22 half-burnt Nepal, Bangladesh, India passports found at Noida high rise

14 of the 22 passports discovered belonged to Nepal, four to Bangladesh, and four to India.

A day after Gautam Budh Nagar commissioner of police Laxmi Singh launched a verification drive to check visas and passports of foreigners staying in the district, police discovered 22 half-burned passports of India and neighbouring countries in the compound of a high-rise society in Sector 150, Noida on Friday.

Police said that the 22 passports belong to 20 people. “Out of four Bangladeshi passports two belong to two people each as their first passport seems to have expired and the second passport has been issued, both of which have been found,” he said. (HT Photo)

According to Ashok Kumar, additional deputy commissioner of police in Greater Noida, 14 of the 22 passports discovered belonged to Nepal, four to Bangladesh, and four to India.

“The incident occurred at Jaypee Aman society in Sector 150 when the society management used fire extinguishers to extinguish a small fire in the society’s compound. They discovered several passports and some documents on the scene and informed us,” Kumar said.

Investigators added that among the documents discovered on the scene were some Sim cards and tenant verification forms.

“All of the documents were in a bag that had been dumped in the compound at a location not covered by any of the society’s CCTV cameras. The bag appears to have been charred after being set on fire by an unidentified person, but the documents inside were not burned due to lamination. After receiving information, a police team arrived on the scene and took the documents into custody,” said VK Singh, station house officer at Knowledge Park Police Station.

He added that the documents are being investigated. “At first glance, the documents appear to be from a travel agency. However, some visiting cards have also been discovered,” he said.

39 foreigners caught in 2 days for overstaying visa

Meanwhile, police discovered 23 foreigners of African origin living in a high-rise building in Greater Noida after their visas expired on Friday, according to investigators.

“On the second day of the verification drive conducted by the local intelligence unit (LIU) and the police, 23 foreigners, including eight women, were arrested from the Alistonia high rise in Pi-1, Greater Noida, after their visas were discovered to be expired. The majority of the suspects’ visas had expired more than six months ago. Still, they continued to live in India and could not provide a reasonable justification for overstaying,” said Sumit Shukla, assistant commissioner of police-3, Central Noida.

He said that a first information report was filed against the suspects at the Surajpur police station following relevant sections of the Foreigners’ Act.

Earlier Thursday, police arrested 16 foreigners from Greater Noida’s Casa Grande society for overstaying their visas in India. An FIR was filed against them at Beta-2 police station under the same sections, and they were sent to judicial custody.

The city police launched the verification drive after 13 foreigners were discovered running two meth labs in two separate residential houses in Greater Noida earlier this month.