Correspondent

RUKSIN, 21 May: The East Siang district police posted at the Ruksin police station on Wednesday detained 19 persons who were entering the state without valid Inner Line Permit (ILP) though the Ruksin check gate.

The police said most of them were fromneighbouring Assam, two from Meghalaya, and one from Bihar. The police detained them at Ruksin and later externed them through the Ruksin gate after legal formalities.

The intensive drive against ILP violation was part of a routine exercise of the district police in order to check illegal entry of outsiders through different entry points along the Arunachal-Assam boundary here.

The district police have intensified checking against illegal migrants in the wake of the ST bachao movement going on in the state.

It may be mentioned that several local organisations and student unions have been demanding that the state government intensify drives against illegal migrants, besides re-verifying the ST status of many individuals who are allegedly not from any Arunachali tribe by origin.