AHMEDABAD, July 2: Indian police said on Wednesday they had arrested eight Saudis and one Sudanese for allegedly preaching “militant Islam” in the riot-scarred western state of Gujarat.

A senior police official said the foreigners, all in India on tourist visas, belonged to the Tablighi Jamaat and were probably on a recruitment drive.

“We found that the foreigners had toured the Muslim-dominated areas of Amod, Jambusar and Palej in Bharuch district to indulge in religious propaganda. They probably wanted to get people to join their fold,” said the official.

“They had tourist visas till November this year and we are assuming they planned to undertake a similar exercise in other Indian states.”

The police department had informed the national immigration office in New Delhi to request that the foreigners be repatriated before July 6, he added.

Rajeev Topno, a senior Bharuch district administrator, said Gujarat state took visa violations very seriously.

“The religious propaganda activities of the foreigners was not in consonance with India’s Foreigners Act under which they had got tourist visas,” said Mr Topno. —AFP