The Armed Police Force detained 13 Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel who had made an incursion into the bordering Kechana village in Jhapa district on Sunday morning.

They were released six hours later after they confessed that they had entered the “Nepali territory by mistake”. They had been detained at the APF Border Operation Post where they were quizzed. Four of the SSB men were armed.

Lal Alam, a local, said 13 SSB personnel entered Kechana-4 at around 7am. The villagers claimed that the Indian servicemen had come in on the pretext of chasing fuel smugglers. “Two SSB men came into the village first.

Eleven others followed them,” said Alam.

The APF team reached the village as the villagers argued with the Indian personnel. “We took the SSB personnel under control fearing an untoward incident following the dispute,” said an APF source.

After the incident, enraged villagers gathered at the APF post and chanted slogans demanding an end to “Indian excesses”.

Assistant Chief District Officer Damaru Prasad Niraula, Deputy Superintendent of Police Bhim Dahal and APF DSP Prem Prasain, along with other local security officers, had reached the site soon after the incident.

Dinesh Bhagat Negi, the commandant at the SSB Battalion at Kishanganj in the Indian state of Bihar, was invited for a consultation. During the talks, according to a police officer who attended the meeting, Negi said that the SSB personnel had “lost their way”. Admitting the mistake, Negi assured not to repeat it in future.

A highly-placed source said the Home Ministry had instructed the Nepali officials to release the personnel. The APF said it would further investigate the matter.