‘Chinese national detained; was visiting J&K, Ladakh without permission’

Srinagar: An unusual chatter on the Internet intercepted by the army alerted security agencies in the Kashmir valley, leading to the detention of a Chinese national who had entered Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir without permission, officials said on Sunday.

Hu Congtai, 29, arrived in Delhi on November 19 on a tourist visa, which permitted him to visit Buddhist religious places in Varanasi, Agra, New Delhi, Jaipur, Sarnath, Gaya and Kushi Nagar. However, leveraging his resemblance to locals, he boarded a flight to Leh on November 20 and did not register at the Foreigners Regional Registration Office counter located at the Leh airport.

During his stay, he toured the Zanskar region for three days and visited places of importance in the Himalayan town before landing in Srinagar on December 1, the officials said.