The entry of German national Sonneteg Reiner Hermann into the country despite the Ministry of Home Affairs issuing a ‘Lookout Circular' against him has raised many eyebrows among the law-enforcing agencies.
When the 49-year-old software engineer was deported from the international airport here, he sought to know from the immigration authorities why he was being sent out of India. When explained he had violated visa conditions and indulged in certain suspicious activities, Mr. Hermann cooperated and boarded the aircraft to Germany, police sources said.
Though the German national did not enter India through any airport in Tamil Nadu, enquiries revealed that the immigration work was manned by the Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs, only at the Chennai international terminal. Immigration work at the Tiruchi and Coimbatore airports, which also have international services, is carried out by the Special Branch CID of the State police. According to an official in the Ministry of Home Affairs, the difference in this is that vital information, particularly instructions relating to LOC or Red Corner notices, would be updated live on the national immigration database of the Bureau of Immigration, but would not be available to other agencies handling immigration work at the smaller airports.
“At airports where immigration is handled by the State police, there is considerable delay in such information getting updated in their systems, enabling foreign nationals to enter/exit airports irrespective of the orders against their entry or seeking their detention,” the official said. Claiming that the Bureau of Immigration had taken over all airports in Kerala, the official said the agency had recently started manning immigration activities at the Karaikal Port where there was active movement of cargo ships.
