By IANS,
Panaji : A total of 36 foreigners, including 13 Nigerians, were arrested in Goa last year for illegally overstaying in India, the state’s Home Minister Ravi Naik said Wednesday.
Naik told the winter session of the Goa legislative assembly that the guilty foreigners were either deported or ordered to leave the country.
“During the period from January to December, checks were conducted by police officers and 36 foreign nationals were arrested as they were found staying in Goa beyond the expiry of their visa,” Naik said.
While Nigerians top the list of foreigners arrested for overstaying in India, Russians come next with eight arrests. Italians, Latvians, Iranians, Germans, Israeli and Portuguese nationals have also been deported to their home countries over the last year.
From the months of October to March, Goa is a major tourist attraction especially for Europeans, nearly half a million of whom visit the sunny state to bask in the winter sun.