US national detained from India-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh for travelling without documents

An American national has been detained from the India-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh for travelling without documents.

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) on Saturday detained an American national, who identified himself as Jordan Brown from California, from near Sonauli along the India-Nepal border in Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh.

Brown was picked up from near the boundary pillar 516 when he appeared to be trying to enter Nepal from India without a visa, according to CNN-News 18.

Brown tried to flee when he was initially stopped. During checking, Rs 31,460 in cash and two mobile phones were recovered from him, but no documents that could confirm his identity were recovered.

Visuals showed him being escorted by security personnel in a semi-naked state.

The incident has been reported weeks after authorities arrested an American national and six Ukrainian nationals and accused them of training anti-India arm ed groups in drone warfare via the India-Myanmar route. The state media at the time linked those arrests to purported growing foreign-backed terror nexus, raising serious concerns over border security, illegal infiltration, and emerging drone-based threats.

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ANI on Monday shared a video of Brown being escorted by police personnel at the Kotwali police station at Sonauli, Maharajganj.

While the India-Nepal border is open for nationals of the either country, and they do not need a visa to enter either country, citizens of all other countries need to have valid passport, visas, and other relevant documents or authorisations to cross the border and enter or leave the either country.

It is not yet clear what Brown has been charged with.

The development has come at a time when the Union government is pursuing a campaign for secure borders and curbing illegal immigration.