Three Portuguese nationals were detained by Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) officials for allegedly trespassing into the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Chamarajanagar district on Sunday.
Nuno Ricardo Bernardes Miranda Paciencia, Angelo Miguel Garrido and Tomas Pinho Marquez were caught roaming inside the reserve on motorcycles, at a time when it is closed to public due to the lockdown.
T Balachandra, Conservator of Forests and Field Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve, told DH that all the three were handed over to the Gundlupet police on Monday.
“Our front-line staffers alerted about people's movement inside the reserve on Sunday afternoon. We detained them around 4 pm. During interrogation, they refused to cooperate with our officials and were rude with the Range officials. Since we do not have power under the law to book foreign nationals, we only registered a Forest Offence Case (FOC) under the Karnataka Forest Act and produced them before the magistrate and handed them over to the local police,” Balachandra said.
The department has seized the trio’s bikes.
Forest Department officials said that as per the papers they produced, they were not supposed to travel out of Bengaluru. They were on business visas and were assisting a premier organisation in maintaining aircraft. "But all the three had hired motorcycles and entered the forest area without prior permission.”
Sources at the Foreigners' Regional Registration Office (FRRO) told DH that all of them were in the city business visas. "They were visiting the Centre for Airborne System (CABS), DRDO, for inspection of NETRA Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&CS). Their visa validity was from January 20 to April 17. They had to stay back due to the lockdown," a source said.