Chinese national held along Indo-Bangla border in WB; BSF suspects could be spy

Kolkata, Jun 10 (PTI) A 35-year-old Chinese man was apprehended by BSF from along India-Banglesh international border in West Bengal on Thursday, with paramilitary force saying security agencies are probing if he was working for an intelligence agency of neighbouring country, officials said.

Han Junwe is a resident of China's Hubei province. He h visited India at least four times in past and has a hotel in Gurgaon, near Delhi, south Bengal frontier of Border Security Force (BSF) hequartered in Kolkata said in a statement issued late in evening.

BSF said Junwe told m during interrogation that after his business partner was arrested recently by Lucknow Anti-Terrorist Squ (ATS), he was not able to get an Indian visa and hence, applied for a Bangleshi and a Nepalese visa to enter country.

It said Junwe is a "wanted criminal" and all intelligence agencies are working toger to unravel his links.

Dressed in a black sweatshirt, trousers and shoes, man was "intercepted" by a BSF party around 7 am when he was "trying to cross border illegally" near Malik Sultanpur post of force in West Bengal's Malda district.

force said man was "moving stealthily" and when ordered to stop, "tried to run away", but troops chased and caught him.

In a video statement of Junwe provided by force, he said he entered India by "mistake" and that he wanted to "surrender" before ATS Lucknow.

He also said he visited India in past in connection with e-commerce business.

A Chinese passport, an Apple MacBook, two iPhones, a SIM card each of Banglesh and India, two Chinese SIM cards, two pen drives, three batteries, two small torches, two ATM cards and some US dollars, Bangleshi taka and Indian rupee were "recovered from his possession."  "In electronic equipment found from Junwe, many facts can be found like he was working in India for which Chinese intelligence agency.  "This apprehension is a big achievement for BSF and matter will be investigated in depth. Many startling details may surface," force said.

Junwe told BSF that he reached Dhaka on a business visa on June 2 and stayed re with a Chinese friend.

"On June 8, he came to Sona Masjid in Chapainawabganj district of Banglesh and stayed in a hotel and n, moved towards India-Banglesh border," force said.

It said man told m that he visited Hyderab in 2010 and Delhi and Gurgaon thrice after 2019.

"According to him, he has a hotel in Gurgaon named Star Spring. Some of his colleagues in this hotel are from China and rest are Indians who have been employed.

"He said one of his business partners, Sun Jiang, used to send him 10-15 Indian SIM cards after a gap of a few days, which were received by him and his wife at ir home in Hubei," BSF said.

"But a few days ago, this business partner was caught by ATS Lucknow. He told m about Junwe and his wife, due to which a case was registered against him by ATS Lucknow and hence, he could not get an Indian visa," it ded.

Junwe n obtained visas from Banglesh and Nepal to come to India, BSF said.

Chinese man was kept at Mohipur post of border-guarding force in Malda and a security officer conversant in Mandarin and English led joint questioning session by officials of BSF, local police and intelligence agencies. PTI NES SKL RC