Silchar: A 44-year-old Nigerian national, suspected to be an illegal entrant into India, was arrested in Silchar along with four others, prompting fresh concerns over undocumented cross-border movement through the northeast.Police identified the foreign national as Emeka Esado, who was apprehended on Wednesday from the Shillongpatty area in Silchar while travelling in an auto-rickshaw. He was accompanied by a couple from Ghaniala locality of the city — Tinku Hassan Barbhuiya (41) and his wife Romina Begum Barbhuiya (38) — a Mizoram-based woman, Malsawmi Dangi (46) of Aizawl, and the local auto driver.All five were taken to Sadar police station for questioning and later produced before a Silchar court on Thursday. The court remanded them to judicial custody.Police said the Nigerian national did not possess any valid travel documents. Following the detention, senior police officials and intelligence agencies conducted multiple rounds of interrogation.Preliminary investigation suggests that the Mizoram woman was known to the Ghaniala couple and had allegedly brought the Nigerian national to their home after he arrived from Delhi on Tuesday. However, investigators suspect the claim may be misleading and are exploring the possibility that he entered India through the porous India-Myanmar border via Mizoram before reaching Silchar.The development comes amid a series of recent incidents involving foreign nationals in Mizoram, raising broader security concerns in the region.Though no direct link has been established between the Silchar detention and the Mizoram incidents, security agencies are treating the developments with caution.
