Crackdown On ‘Super Spreaders'

10 Indonesians and 5 Indians booked for hiding in Ghaziabad, quarantined.

- Arvind Ojha and Puneet Sharma

The Ghaziabad police have booked 15 people, including 10 Indonesians, for staying at a mosque in Block D of Shaheed Nagar Colony in Ghaziabad without informing the administration. All 15 of them have been sent to quarantine centre.

They have been booked under Sections 14B of the Foreigners Act, Section 3 of Epidemic Diseases Act and Sections 188, 269, 270 of the IPC at Sahibabad Police Station.

The matter came to light when the police got a tip-off that some participants of the Tablighi event in Delhi were staying in a masjid-cum-residence in Block D of Shaheed Nagar.

The police reached the spot and asked the owner of the house, Mohammad Faiz, about the foreigners. He got scared and revealed to the police that 10 Indonesians, including five women, were staying in his house. He further told the police that the 10 people came to India in January on tourist visa and took part in Tablighi events in Delhi and UP.

On March 19, they took part in a Tablighi event at a Shaheed Nagar Masjid and since then they were hiding there.

Apart from the 10 Indonesians, the Maulana of the Masjid and four employees have also been sent for quarantine.

FIR AGAINST MOSQUE TRUSTEE AND THREE FILIPINO NATIONALS

The Navi Mumbai police have registered an FIR against three Phillipine nationals and six Indians, including a trustee of a mosque in Vashi for violation of visa norms, entering Navi Mumbai illegally and spreading the deadly Coronavirus. One of these Filipinos had recently succumbed to the coronavirus.

The FIR is against those who were based in the Noor Masjid at Vashi. According to the police, a patient from around the mosque was found to be positive and people spoke about foreigners being at the mosque. When the police reached the spot, they were met with resistance.