LVIV, Jan 11: Ukraine has intercepted 40 people from China, India, Pakistan and other Asian countries for illegally entering the country, border guards said on Tuesday.

Among those officially identified were 19 Pakistanis, 10 Indians and seven Chinese. They were found hiding in the basement of a house in the Carpathian mountains in western Ukraine which borders EU members Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

Ukraine last year deported nearly 2,400 foreigners, most of them illegal immigrants, according to official figures. -AFP