Bengaluru, June 9 (IANS) Karnataka's Bandipur Tiger Reserve officials have detained three Portuguese citizens for trespassing into the range without permission amid lockdown, an official said.

"They have not been arrested but kept for interrogation. They said they wrongly entered the park," T. Balachandra, Conservator of Forests and Field Director, Project Tiger, Bandipur, told IANS on Monday.

An official from the tiger reserve photographed the Portuguese trespassing.

"The foreigners were returned to the forest department for interrogation by the police," said Balachandra.

The Europeans entered the park on three bullets, wearing shorts and sunglasses.

Incidentally, they entered the park on Sunday when it was shutdown adhering to the Covid lockdown.

The three Portuguese have been identified as Nuno Ricardo Bernardes Miranda Paciencia, Angelo Miguel Garrido and Tomas Pinho Marquez.

--IANS sth/rt