How Home Ministry is Cracking Down on Crimes Committed by Foreigners in India

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posted on 11 months ago — updated on 1 second ago

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The recent initiative, led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to establish a registry is aimed at assisting law enforcement agencies in quickly validating information about suspects among foreign nations. The registry will aid in the resolution of instances, including illegal immigration, visa fraud, narcotics, cheating, and cybercrime

Crimes committed by foreigners are three times higher than the crime rate against foreigners in India, with 4,925 foreigners involved in crimes and 2,585 cases registered across the country in 2021, a report by the National Crime Records Bureau says.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has taken the initiative to establish a registry to track crimes committed by foreign nationals in India. The initiative, led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is aimed at assisting law enforcement agencies in quickly validating information about suspects among foreign nations. The registry will aid in the resolution of instances, including illegal immigration, visa fraud, narcotics, cheating, and cybercrime.

Meanwhile, the Narendra Modi government’s initiative to check crime against foreigners in the country has resulted in a 70% decline in records of such crimes since 2019, according to the 2021 NCRB data.

According to NCRB’s ‘Crime in India 2021’ report, majority of foreigners (3,430 out of 4,925) were arrested for violating the Foreigners Act of 1946 and the Registration of Foreigners Act of 1939, which primarily relate to visa fraud and illegal immigration, followed by violations of the Narcotics Control Act (449 foreigners) and the Passports Act of 1967 (247 foreigners).

Here’s a look at some of the instances of crimes committed by foreigners and data on their arrest in the past six months:

November 9, 2023: The Mumbai Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) disrupted a big narcotics network with operations across India, and two Zambian nationals were detained at a Mumbai hotel. The law enforcement officials also seized 2kg cocaine worth more than Rs 20 crore from them.
November 3, 2023: NCB officers busted an Indo-Nigerian drug network that sourced synthetic drugs like cocaine, MDMA, LSD and amphetamine in cities like Chennai, Bengaluru and Kochi from France.
August 25, 2023: According to the Central Crime Branch (CCB), three Sri Lankans involved in northern Bengaluru “by a quirk of fate” have been charged with over a dozen murders back home.
August 23, 2023: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) detained eight foreign nationals (five are Bangladeshi citizens and three are Rohingya) at the Agartala railway station when they were about to board a Kolkata-bound train. They allegedly illegally entered India and the police recovered three fake Aadhaar cards and one PAN card from the group.
July 10, 2023: Two foreigners (one with a Japanese passport and the other with a Thai passport) were detained at the Mumbai airport for allegedly attempting to smuggle out Rs 1.15 crore. The customs department’s Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) seized the cash.
May 31, 2023: Three Nigerians were detained in Greater Noida with 30kg methamphetamine (MDMA) worth Rs 150-Rs 160 crore in the international market. The police also recovered two cars involved in narcotics distribution, nine mobile phones, and four passports.

Here are some instances of horrific crimes like murder and robbery committed by foreign nationals in India:

November 12, 2019: Two suspected Bangladeshi nationals murdered and robbed an elderly couple who stayed alone in their house at Venmony in Chengannur, Kerala.
November 24, 2018: Delhi Police arrested five Bangladeshi nationals of an interstate gang following a brief encounter in New Friends Colony’s Taimoor Nagar area. The gang was involved in crimes such as robbery, murder, and rape across different parts of the country.
November 4, 2016: The Teynampet Police arrested three Nepali nationals in connection with the murder of a 60-year-old woman who lived alone and the robbery of Rs 2 lakh at T Nagar in Chennai.

According to the annual ‘Prison Statistics India 2020’ by the NCRB, there were 4,926 foreigners imprisoned in India in 2020, up from 5,203 in 2019 and 5,157 in 2018. As of 2020, 70% of the foreign-origin inmates in Indian jails were awaiting trial.

West Bengal has the highest percentage of foreign criminals in jails with 466 cases (40.9%), followed by Uttar Pradesh with 127 cases (11.1%) and Delhi with 73 cases (6.4%) at the end of 2020.