In what could be termed as a major lapse on the part of Gautam Budh Nagar district police, 17 foreigners, who were detained in Greater Noida for allegedly staying in the country without valid travel documents on Wednesday, escaped from the police custody on Thursday late evening. They were among the 60 foreign nationals from nine countries who were detained on Wednesday over invalid visa and passport documents and faced deportation.
“Around 8.30 pm on Thursday, 17 of the foreigners escaped from the reserve police lines in Surajpur where they were lodged. They escaped after breaking open a bathroom window,” said Gautam Buddh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna.
He said a police inquiry has been launched into the matter and searches are underway to trace the foreigners.
“Superintendent of Police (City) Vineet Jaiswal will be carrying out the probe and submit a report in this matter,” he said. All 17 who fled were men, he added.
Earlier on Thursday, police had released 12 of the 60 foreigners who could produce valid travel documents, Krishna said. Almost all of those detained are from eight African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Ivory Coast and Angola. Twenty-eight of them are women, the police said.
During the police inspection on Wednesday, 222 beer bottles marked for sale in Delhi, 3.5 kilograms of cannabis, six laptops and 114 Airtel SIM cards were seized from their residences, they said.