US national stopped for satellite phone-like device in J&K, let off after checks

NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: Visiting US national Jeffrey Scott, who was stopped at Srinagar airport after a satellite phone-like device was detected in his baggage — a prima facie violation of provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act — was allowed to fly out of the Valley after it became clear that he had carried the device as a navigational aid for his trekking trips, unaware that its possession and use were banned in India, report Bharti Jain & Naseer Ganai.

Sources said the device is commonly used by trekkers in the US, where it is not banned, as a satellite communicator to navigate remote areas without any cellular coverage.




Scott and his travel companion Haldar Koushik, an Indian-origin naturalised US citizen who has worked with US govt, reached Kashmir via Delhi and were to fly out from Srinagar to Kathmandu, via Delhi. “Scott, unaware of the ban on satellite phones in India, had carried the device from the US for use as a navigational tool for trekking trips in both J&K and Nepal.

A background check by agencies, including RAW, cleared him after it did not find any malicious intent on his part,” a source told TOI. An officer said Scott, who hails from Montana, was neither detained nor arrested. No FIR was registered against him either. “The phone he was carrying is not really a satellite phone like Garmin or Thuraya but a phone-like device that also acts as a satellite communicator. After a background check found him in the clear, he was allowed to fly out. He may leave Srinagar tonight or tomorrow,” the source added.

A police officer said such communication devices are restricted in J&K and other parts of the country and they are allowed to be used only after authorisation.
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