By IANS,
Panaji : An Omani national was arrested in a South Goa town for overstaying after he was shadowed by the police for three days, an official said Sunday.
Police officials said Ali Akbar was one of the five tourists who were being shadowed by the police for their suspicious behaviour.
“He was first found accessing Arab websites, when it was reported to us a few days ago,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Umesh Gaonkar told reporters.
Gaonkar said that the police suspicions were further fuelled after it was learnt that Ali Akbar landed in Goa from Mumbai Dec 6, even when his visa was due to expire a day later.
“We found this suspicious. He should have renewed his visa or left the country,” he said.
The police nabbed him Saturday.
Officials said that intelligence bureau officials were also roped in to interrogate the Omani national, who age is still unclear.
The Goa police were keeping a watch on four other foreign nationals for the last one week.
“Their entry into Goa had coincided with the Mumbai terror strikes and after they landed here they did not leave their rooms for nearly two days,” a senior police official said, refusing to disclose the identity or the nationality of the tourists.
“Since Goa is a tourist state, we do not want to create an alarm for nationals from any particular country,” the official said.
Superintendent of Police V.V. Chaudhury confirmed the surveillance on foreigners and claimed that the police were keeping a sharp lookout for anything suspicious.
“We are not taking any chances,” he told IANS.
In a cabinet note circulated after the Mumbai terror strikes, Goa Chief Secretary J.P. Singh admitted that the state had received specific inputs that Al Qaeda had Goa on its radar.