India Arrests Seven Foreigners for Allegedly Training Myanmar Rebels
India Arrests Seven Foreigners for Allegedly Training Myanmar Rebels
Indian investigators have arrested six Ukrainians and an American on suspicion of illegally crossing into neighboring Myanmar to train armed militia groups, radio station AIR reported Tuesday.
On Monday, a closed court in New Delhi remanded the seven in custody for 11 days of interrogation after they allegedly illegally entered Mizoram state without an official permit.
The seven then allegedly passed from Mizoram into neighbouring Myanmar, where they were “training ethnic war groups… associated with insurgent groups in India”, according to AIR. India has long been suspicious of certain Myanmar factions that have the same ethnicity as populations on the Indian side of the border, fearing a spillover of violence and unrest.
The seven are also suspected of having illegally transported a “huge consignment of drones from Europe” into India for use in Myanmar, AIR said without specifying the type of drones or their countries of origin.
After their return to India, officials from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested the Ukrainians in the Delhi and Lucknow and the American in Kolkata.
The Indian Express newspaper reported that they had been charged with conspiring to commit terrorist acts against the Indian state, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Calls by AFP to the NIA spokesman went unanswered on Tuesday.
Mizoram’s chief minister claimed last year that “thousands” of Western mercenaries had passed through the state on their way to Myanmar, but the assertion is hard to verify.
India is building a 1,643-km fence along its porous border with Myanmar, which runs through remote jungles and snow-capped Himalayan peaks.
