New Delhi: A US national was recently apprehended along the India-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh while attempting to cross over into the neighbouring country without valid documents.
Jordan Brown (36) was nabbed by personnel of the 22Bn Sashastra Seema Bal in the Maharajganj district. He was stopped during a routine patrol near border pillar number 516 in the Mainihwa area, which falls under the Sonauli police station limits.
Brown was unable to produce a valid passport or visa required for foreign nationals to enter Nepal, following which he was taken into custody and handed over to the local police for further legal action.
He reportedly told the police that he is a resident of California. He also claimed to have served in the US Navy and the country’s Special Forces for six years. His assertions are yet to be independently verified, the police said.
Brown claimed that he studied at the University of California and had left military service in the US around two years ago and married an Indian woman in 2024.
“The SSB apprehended an individual near Sonauli for attempting to enter Nepal without authorisation. Upon questioning, he identified himself as Jordan Brown and stated that he is a US citizen from California,” Maharajganj ASP Siddharth said, as reported by News18.
The US national claimed that he had travelled to Thailand on a tourist visa, where he allegedly lost his passport. He said that he had travelled to nearly 70 countries and had come to India after visiting Bali, Indonesia.
“He subsequently reached Sri Lanka via a sea route and arrived in India from there by sea on 2 November, 2025. Since then, he had been residing in Goa,” ASP Atish Kumar Singh said.
Brown had been living in Goa ever since, spending nearly seven months in India without a passport, the police said.
After leaving Goa, he He travelled to Bengaluru and then made his way to the Sonauli border, where he was allegedly attempting to cross into Nepal before being apprehended by SSB personnel. When asked about his parents, Brown said that both of them had died some time ago.
During a search, the SSB recovered Rs 31,460 in cash and two mobile phones from the US national, PTI reported.
In another report by Hindustan Times, it has been said that the authorities recovered a mobile phone, a Chinese passport, an AI translator device, Nepalese currency, religious books, a diary, a wristwatch, and other belongings from the US national.
Brown claimed that he was trying to go to Nepal to meet a Nepalese citizen called ‘Naz’, whom he had befriended in Goa. He further claimed that his passport was with one of his acquaintances in Bengaluru, as reported by The Times of India.
He further claimed that he had met an Indian woman, who hailed from Uttarakhand and is a yoga instructor, in Italy three years ago and got married to her in October 2024.
