By IANS,
Panaji : A middle-aged German was arrested Wednesday by the Goa police for overstaying his visa. The detention comes in the wake of intelligence inputs warning of a terror attack in the state.
Karl Heinz was detained in Bethora, Ponda, nearly 35 km from here.
“The arrest was a result of our drive against foreigners staying illegally in Goa, which was initiated as part of a security measure following the Mumbai terror strikes,” Ponda police inspector Manjunath Desai said.
He said Heinz’s visa expired more than two years ago and he was living in Bethora with a local resident who he claimed was his wife. The couple have two children.
The German consulate has been informed about the detention of Heinz, who will be produced before a local magistrate.
Over the last few weeks, the police have picked up nearly 40 foreigners including Italians, Germans and Britons for overstaying their visas. But foreigners staying illegally in Goa are not the only ones affected by the surveillance.
The police in numerous surprise raids have arrested more than 1,000 migrants staying in Goa without completing formalities like filling up of tenant verification forms.
The raids were carried out in towns like Ponda, Mapusa, Panaji and Vasco, barring the chief minister’s constituency of Margao, which hosts one of the largest slums in South Goa.
Goa’s lone party in the opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has claimed on several occasions that the Moti Dongor slums in Margao was host to several anti-social elements.
“The slum has to be raided too keeping the security of the state in mind,” BJP spokesperson Damodar Naik said.
He alleged that several people from Moti Dongor arrested by the police for hoarding swords following communal riots in Margao were being shielded by chief minister Digambar Kamat.