Bengaluru, May 18: Four foreign nationals, including three nationals from African countries on drug peddling charges and an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, have escaped from custody when they were lodged in a private rehabilitation centre instead of the regular Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO) facility.
Though the incident took place on May 11, it came to light only after police made another round of searches for the four women, who managed to break the grills of the windows and scale down three floors of the building.
The escaped women have been identified as Thopishta from Nigeria, Nagava from Uganda, Pithina from Kenya and Safina, a Bangladeshi illegal immigrant. The other three had come to India on business and education visas and stayed even after their visas expired.
They were part of the drug mafia in Bengaluru and were arrested by police during anti-narcotic drives. While Thopishta and Nagava were arrested by Hennur police in north Bengaluru, Pithina was arrested by Puttenahalli police in south Bengaluru. Safina was picked up by the Parappana Agrahara police in Bengaluru East.
Private facility used due to overcrowding
Whenever a foreign national is arrested for any offences, the usual practice is to lodge them at the FRRO facility in Nelamangala. However, since Bengaluru police have taken up the anti-drug drive in a big way, the facility is full.
Police decided to lodge them at a private rehabilitation centre for destitutes called Home Of Hope. To be on the safer side, the arrested persons were lodged on the second floor, from where they escaped.
For a long time, Bengaluru has been facing the problem of foreign nationals overstaying and trying to settle here. However, the problem started compounding after the mushrooming of private universities, which started offering seats to foreign nationals, especially those hailing from African countries.
Drug network spread across city
Along with genuine students, drug dealers also started arriving here. Initially, they were concentrated in the northern parts of Bengaluru, such as Hennur, Banaswadi and Kammanahalli. However, slowly they started settling in other parts of the city.
While the genuine students completed their studies and left, others stayed back even after their visas expired. Most of the visas they obtained were education and tourist visas, with very few business visas.
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After 2005, the drug mafia grew stronger and even started running pubs and bars by taking them on lease. These became hubs for drug distribution across Bengaluru city. By the time Bengaluru police could act, the network had grown so complicated that Bengaluru had become one of the global drug distribution transit points.
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