Panaji, Jul 21 (IANS): Only 72 of the 583 foreign nationals allegedly involved in crimes in Goa in the last five years have been deported, a senior police official said on Wednesday.

Deputy Inspector General of police V. A. Gupta said 85 foreigners, out of these 583, are not traceable. These include 53 Nigerians booked two years ago for blockading a National Highway and assaulting public and policemen.

"Problem arises when they don't have proper documents. The ideal situation then is to keep them in detention centres. In many states, there is a provision for detention centres where foreigners are kept till the deportation formalities are completed," Gupta said.

The process has been initiated to set up a detention centre in a portion of the Aguada jail here," he said.

The 72 foreigners deported included 16 Russians and 10 British.

"Once deported, they are blacklisted from entering India for a minimum of five years," the police officer said.