Two Chinese men were detained in Bihar for attempting to enter India illegally; a “espionage” connection has not yet been ruled out
Attempting to enter India from Nepal, two Chinese nationals were apprehended by the immigration department in Raxaul, East Champaran district in Bihar, authorities said on Sunday.
The two Chinese males were taken to the immigration office for inquiry after the incident, which happened in front of the Indian Customs office, according to an official statement. Zhao Jing and Fu Cong, two male nationals, were both found to be in possession of invalid papers throughout the investigation.
Jing (39) and Cong (28) are both from Jiangxi, China.
The Raxaul Immigration Department detained the two Chinese nationals on July 2 as they tried to enter India from Nepal without a visa, according to the statement. Both of them were sent back to Nepal after their initial border crossing after having a warning issued in their passports signaling entrance rejection. Before trying to enter India, it was urged that they get an Indian visa.
According to a report, immigration officers stationed at the border have not ruled out the potential of “espionage” as the cause of the Chinese citizens’ unauthorized entry into Indian territory from the other side of the border.
An official was reported as adding that the accused had “strange behavior” and that their claims were “inconsistent and self-contradictory” despite the fact that one of them spoke English well.
Days before, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) had detained a Chinese national at the Indo-Nepal border at Kharibari, in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. The culprit, 39-year-old Yongxin Peng, was spotted with Chinese products and was detained by Bengal police on Wednesday. He was reportedly unable to understand Hindi or English when he was questioned.
Another Chinese person was detained by the SSB in February while trying to enter India from Nepal without proper documentation. In the Uttar Pradesh district of Lakhimpur, this arrest took place.
Since the battles in Galwan in 2020, ties between China and India have remained tense.
