Police told to arrest foreigners staying illegally

MANGALURU

Asking police in Dakshina Kannada to speed up the process of tracing foreign nationals, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said here on Monday that those found without valid documents should be arrested.

Talking to reporters after a review of the working of Mangaluru City and Dakshina Kannada District Police units, Mr. Jnanendra said that action on foreign nationals is necessitated after the recent arrest in Bengaluru Rural of people who were involved in issuing fake Aadhaar card and other documents to foreign nationals.

“There is a mechanism by which the State Police keep track of the movement of foreign nationals. We are strengthening this mechanism. I have asked the police to find out all foreign nationals in this sensitive coastal district at the earliest and take action against illegal occupants,” he said.

On the operations of satellite phones in the coastal region, Mr. Jnanendra said that the State Police are taking assistance from the Central investigation agencies in tracing operations of satellite phones. “I cannot give all details, but we have gone to the root of this issue and are ensuring that these phones are not used for anti-national activities,” he said.

On the absence of own building for a few police stations in the city, Mr. Jnanendra said that the State government has sanctioned ₹200 crore for building 100 police stations this year. “If land is available for three city police stations, which are operating on rented premises, the department will take up construction work,” he said. Bids have been floated for constructing a police station building in Kukke Subrahmanya, he added.

In a meeting with public prosecutors, Mr. Jnanendra said that he has asked them to work in close coordination with the police to further improve conviction rate in criminal cases.

Earlier, Mr. Jnandendra had a nearly two-hour-long meeting with police officers from the Mangaluru City and Dakshina Kannada District Police. Inspector-General of Police (Western Range) Devajyoti Ray, Police Commissioner N. Shashi Kumar and Superintendent of Police Rishikesh Sonawane participated in the meeting.