Canadian woman arrested in Bihar for entering India without visa

A Canadian national was arrested near here on Wednesday while trying to sneak into the Indian territory from adjoining Nepal dodging immigration officials and without a valid visa, an immigration department official said.

The 26-year-old Ontario resident was arrested from a bus heading for Bettiah in neighbouring West Champaran district, the official said.

The police had been alerted by the immigration department officials that the woman had reached Raxaul border outpost in an auto-rickshaw from Nepal and had fled upon being asked to halt and show her documents, the official said.

The womans passport, camera and a video recorder were seized from her.

During interrogation she claimed to have visited India long back and that her online request for a visa in January 2020 when she was in Nepal was declined by the Indian authorities because of the coronavirus pandemic, the official said.

The woman claimed that during her previous visits she had extensively toured Himachal Pradesh, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, he added.

She was taken to Haraiya police station where a case has been registered against her under the Foreigners Act, the police said.