Panaji, Jul 30 (IANS) Nigerians top the list of foreign nationals who have overstayed in Goa, followed by Tanzanians, over the last three years, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the state Assembly on Tuesday.

In a written reply tabled during the ongoing monsoon session of the Assembly, Sawant said that apart from Nigerians and Tanzanians, Russians represented the third highest contingent of over-stayers who had been booked by the police under the Passport Act and the Foreigners Act.

While 86 Nigerians had been arrested by the police across Goa from 2006-09, Tanzanians came in next at 17, while 13 Russians were also apprehended. Among persons of other nationalities who were arrested for overstaying include those from Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Germany, and Sweden.

Overstaying by foreigners in Goa has been a consistent red flag for the Home Ministry which earlier this year started a special detention centre which serves as a transit incarceration facility where overstaying foreign nationals are lodged before they are deported.