SRINAGAR: Unusual online chatter intercepted by the Army triggered a security alert in Kashmir and led to the detention of a 29-year-old Chinese national who had allegedly travelled through Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir without the required permissions, reports appearing in the media said on Sunday.
According to these reports, the detained individual, identified as Hu Congtai, arrived in Delhi on November 19 on a tourist visa that restricted his travel to Buddhist religious centres in places such as Varanasi, Agra, Delhi, Jaipur, Sarnath, Gaya and Kushinagar. Despite these limitations, Hu reportedly boarded a flight to Leh the very next day, bypassing the mandatory Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) counter at the Leh airport.
Media reports said Hu appeared to have used his resemblance to locals to travel inconspicuously. He spent three days in the remote Zanskar region, visited sites around Leh, and later flew to Srinagar on December 1.
Security agencies became suspicious after analysing Hu’s digital trail. His phone history allegedly contained searches related to the deployment of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the Valley, as well as references to Article 370, which was abrogated in August 2019. Reports said he also procured an Indian SIM card from the open market.
During his stay in Srinagar, Hu checked into an unregistered guest house and visited several locations across the city, including Shankaracharya hill, Hazratbal, and the Mughal Garden on the Dal Lake. He also visited the Buddhist site at Harwan, an area where an encounter last year resulted in the killing of a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant.
According to media accounts attributing information to officials, data extracted from his devices placed him at the Awantipur ruins in South Kashmir, located close to the Army’s Victor Force headquarters.
Hu, who holds a Physics degree from Boston University, is said to have claimed that he is simply a traveller. His passport reflects visits to several countries, including the United States, New Zealand, Brazil, Fiji and Hong Kong.
Officials quoted in media reports said Hu had clearly violated visa conditions, and the most likely outcome of the ongoing questioning by multiple agencies would be his deportation.
