Eight suspected Chinese nationals were arrested by the Himachal Pradesh Police, acting on a tip-off from central intelligence agencies. Chinese nationals were found violating their visa terms and huge amount of both Indian and foreign currency was found in their possession. Mandi Superintendent of Police, Abhishek Dhullar said “The raids were conducted by Joginder Nagar police officer of Mandi District past midnight at Chauntara village located near Mandi-Pathankot highway. The village has high Tibetan density.” “Police arrested eight person aged between 20 and 40 from a house which is under construction belonging to a resident of Sikkim. Suspected to be Chinese nationals, these people were staying under the disguise of mason and painters,” added Dhullar. The police party found Rs 30 lakhs, US $ 3000 and 30,000 Yuans in their possession. Both Indian and Chinese SIM cards, ATM cards of international banks and other documents were also found in the raid. Assistant Director General of Police, SR Mardi said that it is too early to say whether or not the arrested persons are Chinese spies. The investigation is in process and currently they have been booked for violation of visa. Mardi said things will be cleared after interrogation and investigation of the case but the accused had not informed the Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) of their stay in the area and have come to India on tourist visas and were found working in the area. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said that though police is investigating the case and it is too early to say they were Chinese spies, but he has often taken up the issue of Chinese threat to India with Central Government. “In the present scenario, one can say that China is gradually becoming the biggest threat for the country and Himachal Pradesh’s border with China is most vulnerable,” said Dhumal. Hoping that Central Government will wake up to Chinese threats Dhumal said that earlier also there were cases of air space violations by the Chinese and the matter has been frequently taken up with the Union Government. However, police sources later in the evening said that those arrested were holding passport of Taiwan and investigating agencies earlier got confused with the official name of ‘Taiwan’ on the passport, which is ‘Republic of China’ and China’s official name ‘People’s Republic of China.’ Highly placed police sources said that recently Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing, had sent some inputs for verification of Chinese nationals in the State after spiritual leader Dalai Lama had come out in the open, alleging Chinese plot to kill him using Tibetan women as their agents. Also, based on the intelligence inputs, raids are being carried out in the state
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