Daijiworld Media Network - Patna
Patna, Jun 26: The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has detained two women from Uzbekistan near the India-Nepal border in Bihar's East Champaran district after they were allegedly found attempting to cross into Nepal without valid documents authorising their stay in India.
The women were intercepted during routine checking near the Maitri Bridge at Custom Chowk in Raxaul, under the jurisdiction of the Haraiya police station.
According to officials, an SSB patrol noticed the two foreign nationals behaving suspiciously while attempting to cross the international border into Nepal. During preliminary questioning, inconsistencies in their responses prompted a detailed verification of their identities and travel documents.
Investigators subsequently identified the women as Makhfuza Dekhkonova (32), a resident of the Kuva (Quqon) district in Uzbekistan's Fergana region, and Maftuna Kilicheva (35), from Jo'jaobod village in the Payariq district of the Samarkand region.
Officials said both women were unable to produce valid immigration or residency documents permitting them to remain in India.
Following their detention, the SSB handed the two women over to the Haraiya police for further investigation.
Haraiya Station House Officer Kishan Paswan said investigators are questioning the women to determine when and how they entered India, the duration of their stay, the places where they had been residing, the purpose of their attempted journey to Nepal, and the validity of their visas and other travel documents.
Police and security agencies are examining the passports and documents recovered from the women to verify their immigration status and ascertain whether they had overstayed their visas.
Officials are also investigating whether the case has any connection to organised illegal migration or international trafficking networks. However, no such links have been established at this stage of the investigation.
The Raxaul sector along the India-Nepal border is considered strategically sensitive due to the relatively easy movement of people across the frontier. Security agencies, including the SSB and local police, routinely conduct surveillance and verification drives to prevent illegal border crossings and other unlawful activities.
In recent months, authorities have reported several cases involving smuggling, unauthorised migration and illegal cross-border movement through the Raxaul corridor.
The two women remain in police custody, and further legal action will be initiated after the completion of the investigation and verification of their immigration records.