Imphal, Nov. 10: Three Swiss nationals have been arrested for entering Manipur without restricted area permits.

They were produced in court today and will be sent back soon.

The three foreigners entered Manipur from Assam at Jiribam, a small town in Imphal East on the boundary of the two states, each driving a car, and travelled 222km to the state capital without entry passes. They went undetected till police picked them up from a hotel here last night.

Fabian Kung, Ruedi Wannei and Marcel Housi were picked up from their rooms at Hotel Bheigo.

The police said they had been informed of the presence of the three foreigners after which they went there on a routine check and discovered that the visitors did not have the restricted area permit. They then arrested the three for not carrying the permit, without which foreigners cannot enter Manipur.

The foreigners were produced in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Imphal, today.

The court said they could not stay in the state without the permit.

The court imposed a fine of Rs 500 on each and allowed them to go back from where they had come, which means they will be sent back through the Imphal-Jiribam Road (National Highway 39) through which they had entered Manipur. In all likelihood, they will be leaving Manipur tomorrow.

Fabian told reporters that they did not know before coming to Manipur that a permit was required to visit the state. “We were not stopped by anyone while entering Manipur and reaching Imphal. No one told us that a restricted area permit was required for visiting the state. We are sorry.”

He said they were on a holiday tour of some countries and had planned the trip two years ago. They began the trip in their own cars from Switzerland on October 5 and visited Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, some parts of India and Bangladesh before entering the Northeast.

The three were heading for Myanmar through Manipur and then to Thailand.

“We wanted to visit some countries to learn the different cultures and lifestyles of the people living there,” he said.