CHANDIGARH:The BSF personnel on Friday arrested two Nigerian nationals who tried to enter Pakistan through the Indo-Pak border from Roranwala outpost near Attari.
Nigerian nationals Saini Jamilu, 25, and Imran Kabir, 24, climbed the 20-ft-high grilled fence and jumped onto a rail track thinking they have reached Pakistan, only to be apprehended after a chase.
Sources said Jamilu and Kabir hired a taxi to reach Amritsar from Delhi on Thursday. While the driver took a break for a nap at the Golden Temple parking area, they stole the car’s key from his pocket and drove it to Attari border.
On reaching the Office of Immigration and Customs, the officials told them to come around 9 am.
But instead of leaving the spot, they preferred to wait near the car. “As our personnel approached them, they panicked and sped away on the road adjoining the checkpost towards Roranwala outpost. On reaching there, they abandoned the taxi and climbed the 20-ft-high grilled fence on the international border only to be apprehended by the patrolling party of BSF,” said BSF Deputy Inspector General M F Farooqui.
“Jamilu had his passport and other related documents intact, but Kabir was carrying the photo copy of his passport and copy of the case lodged in Delhi regarding his lost passport. During questioning, they said they arrived in India last year for studies. They claimed they were intending to cross-over to Pakistan to go to Islamabad, again for study purposes. We recovered five printouts taken from Google maps of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. They described Iraq as their final destination,” Farooqui said.
Both claimed they were cousins. On the way, they had parked the car near the integrated checkpost and enquired about the route to Pakistan.
Dressed in tights and long kurtas, they looked confident and spoke fluent English. One them sported a black half-jacket.
Jamilu is a BBA student of the Karnataka State Open University, New Delhi, and Kabir is a B Sc third semester student at the Mahatama Gandhi University, Delhi.
Both have been handed over to Punjab Police for further investigation.