Steven Prasin was arrested from the IGI airport. He is one among 23 other foreign nationals including Afghans, Singhalese, Chinese and Somalians who have been arrested by the FRRO this month. DCP (FRRO) Dharmendra Kumar told Express Newsline: ``The people we have taken into custody are the ones who engaged in undesirable activities. We want to deport them but we have no money. The concerned embassies are not ready to arrange their air tickets either.''

The arrests were made following a drive by the FRRO to identify foreign nationals overstaying in India. According to the FRRO, they have so far identified 3,500 foreign nationals overstaying in the Capital in the past two weeks.

A FRRO official said: ``Our prize catch is Steven Prasin. He has been operating in the Indian sub-continent for several years. The Calcutta police arrested him two years ago. But he jumped bail and got back into the trade. We were on the hunt for him since then.''

Steven has been handed over to the Calcutta police. FRRO sources disclosed that they are aiming at deporting foreign nationals overstaying in the Capital and indulging in criminal activities, which they say have contributed to a rise in the city's crime rate. FRRO inspectors have tied up with the Capital's nine police districts. However, FRRO authorities lament that the district police does not consider the task of identifying foreigners overstaying in the Capital priority work as they are busy attending to murders and robberies.

A senior FRRO official argued: ``The district police does not give priority to this work as they are plagued with their own problems. This makes our work difficult.''