Tibetan refugees detained in Nepal

(BBC World Service, November 16, 1999)

Officials in Nepal say a group of seventy-two Tibetans who were attempting to enter the country have been arrested.

A Nepalese home ministry spokesman said the group were detained by police yesterday Sunday at the Tibet-Nepal border for travelling without valid documents.

He said the Tibetans have been taken to Kathmandu and handed over to the immigration department.

Nepalese officials say about one-thousand-eight-hundred Tibetans, including women and children have fled to Nepal this year.