IMPHAL: A Myanmarese couple that the Manipur Police claimed had entered India illegally in December has been detained.
The couple had been staying at the home of a local Christian missionary since early March, and he was also detained. According to Manipur's IPR Minister, Dr. Sapam Ranjan, the three have been charged under both the IPC and the Foreigners Act.
The state administration is taking it seriously, and those who supported illegal entrance and supplied fake Aadhar cards would face stiff punishment, he added.
According to the police, the arrest of the Myanmarese couple, Limdai Merr and his wife Veikhohat Hatnu, was made possible by a tip-off received from Angom Chinglen's residence in Phayeng village, Imphal West district.
They claimed they found two Aadhar cards and two mobile phones on the pair. A police investigation states that the couple arrived in Nagaland from Myanmar in January 2023, arriving in the Kiphire district's Avakhong village.
It claimed that the pair used the assistance of Merr's great-uncle, who lives in Mimi village in Nagaland, to fake the Aadhaar cards.According to the police complaint, Chinglen, a missionary for the Ranchi-based Berean Multiplying Society, brought the couple to Manipur in February.
Since March 6, the pair had been residing in Chinglen's home, the report stated. According to the police report, Merr had been residing in Nagaland since 2008, prior to his marriage in Myanmar.
According to the report, Merr completed a three-year program at Nagaland Theological College after spending two years studying theology at Incredible Grace College in Dimapur. In addition, Merr spent a year teaching theology in Nagaland's Kiphire district before arriving home in May 2017.
Merr served as a missionary in Yangon from 2019 to 2020, the report said. It’s not clear if Merr’s earlier stay in India was legal.
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