Just days after arresting more than a hundred Africans for overstaying visas, the Bengaluru city police issued notices to property owners renting out houses to foreign nationals to report the whereabouts of their tenants to the police. Property owners failing to comply with the order within three days of renting out their premises will invite legal action.
“We have asked house owners who are giving foreign nationals shelter, to take the copies of their passports and visas and inform the police so that they keep a tab on them. Sometimes, when they overstay, they don’t report back for an extension of visa,” city police commissioner T Suneel Kumar told DH.
The police have traditionally afforded owners a two-week grace period in which to register their tenants with local jurisdictions. In light of recent trends, however, officials are seeking to hasten the process. Last month, the Whitefield police detained more than 200 Africans and arrested 111 — along with some of their hosts. The arrests included foreign nationals from Nigeria (62), Ivory Coast (11), Democratic Republic of Congo (7), Angola (6), Kenya (5), Tanzania (5), Uganda (4), Guinea Coast (4), Sudan (3), Ghana (2), Mali (1), and Senegal (1), according to Suneel Kumar.
The early morning raid took place around T C Palya, Brindavan Layout, Seegehalli, Priyanka Nagar, Anandpura, Margondanahalli of Whitefield in Eastern Bengaluru after the police received information from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office. The police also recovered 150 grams of marijuana and 50 grams of cocaine from two Nigerians, according to previous reports. The commissioner said similar raids will now be a “routine” and a “regular exercise,” once every three months.