Imphal, August 21: The 15 foreign nationals apprehended by troops of 24 Assam Rifles for illegally crossing into Indian territory from Myanmar side on August August 17 have been remanded to police custody till August 25.The remand order was passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Chandel district today so as to facilitate interrogation by the police.

The remand ruling was passed by the Court after police produced all the 15 accused before the Court at Imphal under tight security at around 1.30 pm today.

The CJM also ordered that health check up be conducted after every 48 hours.

Moreh police station registered cases under relevant clauses covering illegal entries etc, said the Investigation Officer (IO) in the case, Mate.

Legal experts said the maximum penalty for such crime is five years imprisonment or imposing monetary fine.

Though Moreh police have taken up the case the accused will be kept and interrogated at Imphal police station for security reasons, Mate said adding that at this stage they seem to be manual and semi-skilled workers.

Among the 15 sent to police custody, one Mahabur Baski, speaking in heavily accented Hindi, said all of them are manual workers and they had come to Moreh recently to eke out their livelihood.

"I earn money by pulling handcart at Moreh while others are engaged in masonry and wall paintings", a visibly frightened Mahabur said adding that the amount he earned was sent to his native place to support his families.

Others also sent the money to their respective families, he said adding, "We have nothing to do with any terrorist organisations".

Some of them belonging different age group were seen dejected with tears streaming down their faces inside the Court room.

They remained silent when asked what problems they faced after their arrest.

Assam Rifles authorities had maintained that one of them possessed documents from Thailand but no links with any terrorist organisation or Al Qaeda could be established from them and that they were arrested for not possessing necessary documents like passports and visas etc.

To reach Moreh town where daily business transactions reportedly hovers around the Rs 5 crore mark, they crossed over from Arakan to Bangladesh (Chittagon Hill Tracts) via Tripura, Silchar and Imphal, the AR said.

"Our team will camp at Imphal for quizzing them till they are produced before the same Court on Saturday," the Investigating Officer of Moreh police station said.

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