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Kerala police detain 3 Afghans

KOLLAM: Three Afghan nationals, who were staying in the country allegedly in violation of the Foreigners Act, were taken into custody from a lodge at Kundara, near here, on Wednesday night.

The three will be detained at the Kundara police station until their documents are cleared by the Intelligence headquarters of the Kerala police.

The police gave their names as Mehboob Khan, Neek Muhammed and Mukesh Kumar.

Mukesh Kumar told the police that he is an Afghan refugee of Hindu origin residing in Haryana.

A police team noticed the three during checks in hotels and lodges as part of the Independence Day security measures. They checked in on August 5 and neither the Afghans nor the lodge owner had got in touch with the Foreign Registration Office or the police station.

The lodge register shows that the room was booked in the name of an autorickshaw driver, who brought them there from the Kollam railway station.

The Afghans told the police that their interest in cashew business made them come to Kundara.

They claimed that they had met a cashew processor and held talks with him on a deal for purchasing 15 tonnes of kernels.

The kernels are for export to Karachi. The police cross-checked their version and found that the meeting did take place.

But, from the information gathered from the cashew processor, the police feel that the three were vague while talking about the deal. They talked about making the payment in rupees. They also did not approach the cashew processor a second time.

Khan and Muhammed told the police that they reached Delhi from Afghanistan on July 31.

Late on Thursday evening, a unit of the Research and Analysis Wing telephonically gathered details from the Kollam police about the Afghans. It is understood that the RAW has some separate information on those detained.

A RAW team will arrive at Kundara on Friday to interrogate the trio. Sleuths from the Intelligence Bureau will also question the detained on Friday.

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