New Delhi, An alert sounded by security agencies based on a tip off on attempts by certain 'persons of interest' to flee India after gaining illegal entry from Myanmar via the porous Mizoram border, led to arrest of seven foreigners, including an US security analyst, officials said on Thursday.
The group, comprising six Ukrainians and an US citizen, had successfully infiltrated into India from Myanmar via the Mizoram border before being intercepted at various domestic airports in the country.
Matthew Aaron VanDyke, the US citizen and international security analyst, was detained at Kolkata airport. He is the founder of 'Sons of Liberty International' and a self-described veteran of the 'Libyan Revolution'.
Six Ukrainian nationals, identified as Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor, were detained from Delhi and Lucknow airports.
The National Investigation Agency has arrested all seven foreigners and registered a case following suspicions that they were operating as mercenaries and may have been training the People's Defence Force, a pro-democracy group declared terrorists by the Myanmar military junta, officials said.
The arrests have triggered diplomatic friction, with Kyiv lodging a formal protest.
