Bhayandar: On an overdrive to flush out foreign nationals involved in drug trade, the Thane (rural) police has alerted property owners and agents those rent out flats to inform the local police station about such transactions. The police move comes in the backdrop of recent arrests of African nationals who were caught in Mira Road with charas and cocaine powder worth lakhs. It is binding upon landlords to submit details of their foreign tenants in the prescribed format to the local police station. The mandate is also applicable for establishments and private companies, who employ foreign nationals.
“Senior officials of all the police stations have been directed to check documents like passports, visas to check their nature and validity. The complied data will be cross verified for immigration status with respective embassies. While landlords who do not abide by the rule will be liable for legal action, our drive will continue until the entire menace is weeded out from the twin-city.” warned Dy. SP- Shantaram Valvi.
Violators can be booked under section 188 of the IPC envisaging a jail term of six months to a year, besides paying fines. It has come to light that some miscreants change their rental accommodations without intimation and manage to overstay in the country only because the landlords do not abide by the rules.
With SP- Dr. Shivaji Rathod leading from the front, the back-to-back arrests and seizures has sent shivers down the spines of the drug cartel, as several foreign nationals with criminal antecedents have started shifting base from Mira Road to safer pastures on the outskirts of Thane district. However, the police does not have the exact number of foreigners living in the twin-city.