India’s Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) border force has detained a US citizen near the India-Nepal international border in the Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh. According to an NDTV report, the American is accused of trying to enter Nepal via an unauthorised footpath, avoiding the approved immigration route. In several videos circulating on social media, the foreigner is seen being led away, with a rope tied to his feet, by villagers and armed SSB members; despite the crowd around him, he appeared calm.
Police said that in questioning the man claimed his name was Jordan Brown and that he was 36 years old. He said he had served in the US Navy for about six years, was a resident of California and had studied at the University of California, but he could not produce any documents or identification to support these claims.
According to Indian police, SSB members of the 22nd Battalion spotted him during a routine patrol near border pillar number 516 in the Mainihawa area of Sonauli police station on Saturday, as he was heading toward the border outside the designated immigration route. When the security force signalled him to stop, he tried to flee, and was then detained and taken into custody for questioning. A search recovered 31,460 rupees in cash and two mobile phones from him, but he was found to have no valid passport, visa or other identification, and police said he gave contradictory information about his identity, travel history and purpose in coming to India.
Jordan Brown claimed he had gone to Thailand on a tourist visa and lost his passport there, then travelled by sea to Sri Lanka and from there entered India by sea on November 2, 2025, after which he had stayed in Goa for about eight months. Maharajganj Additional Superintendent of Police Siddharth said he came from Goa via Bengaluru to Uttar Pradesh and was trying to go to Nepal when the SSB detained him. The information he gave is being verified, and a case has been filed against him at Sonauli police station under sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act on charges of entering India without valid travel documents.
The detention has renewed concern in India over the suspicious movement of foreign nationals. Earlier, in March this year, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested another US citizen, Matthew Aaron Van Dyke, and six Ukrainian nationals on charges of infiltrating into India through Myanmar via the Mizoram border. The NIA alleged that they were involved in a conspiracy to carry out terrorist activities against India, keeping in contact with banned Indian insurgent groups and supplying them with arms and training. The agency claimed that in questioning the accused had admitted being in direct contact with armed militants carrying AK-47 rifles, and that 14 Ukrainian nationals had entered India on tourist visas before going on to Myanmar. Cases have been filed against Van Dyke and the other accused under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), including criminal conspiracy, and the NIA’s investigation into the alleged cross-border network is continuing.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report