Fifteen Chinese nationals, including a woman, staying without valid visas in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar were detained on Monday by the local police, officials said.

The Gautam Buddh Nagar police commissioner had launched an intensive campaign for verification of foreigners living in the district, adjoining Delhi, in the wake of the arrest in June of a Chinese national who was staying illegally in Greater Noida.

He is under investigation for suspected hawala links by the UP police's Special Task Force (STF).

"As part of the verification campaign, 15 Chinese nationals staying illegally in Gautam Buddh Nagar were detained by the Local Intelligence Unit with the support of local police on Monday. They are being sent to the detention center in Delhi and will be subsequently deported to their country," the police said in a statement.

Of those detained, two were living in Greater Noida while the rest were in different areas of Noida, the police said.

They said the verification drive for foreigners living in Gautam Buddh Nagar would continue.

Since June, around 45 Chinese nationals have been detained or arrested for illegal stay in Gautam Buddh Nagar and several of them have been deported also, according to officials.

(Inputs from PTI)