Parkour athletes sent back to UK day after detention
Six members of the British parkour collective Storror were deported to the United Kingdom early on Wednesday morning.
The athletes were in Mumbai to participate in a conference and had been detained on Tuesday for performing a stunt in a housing society in Dadar without permission.
“We found that they had violated their visa conditions. Secondly, they didn’t take requisite permissions from the police or from the organisers who had brought them to Mumbai. Also, they performed dangerous stunts,” said a senior police office, requesting anonymity.
Storror is an extreme parkour collective that has a global fan following. Prior to being detained on Tuesday, the group had met some of their Mumbaibased fans, who call themselves “Storror army”, in Bandra. Storror was in Mumbai to participate in a conference on December 2. “We first thought to restrict their movement till the conference… but after taking their statement, a report was submitted to the Special Branch of Mumbai Police, which then took the stand to deport them,” said the officer.
The police said they had received confirmation that Storror had reached the UK safely.
On Monday afternoon, the Storror team had entered Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar Society, climbed up to the terrace of one of the four buildings in the society and filmed a stunt in which one of them leaped from the roof of one 14-storey building to another.
Members of the housing society filed a complaint with Mumbai Police, alleging the parkour athletes had entered their buildings without permission.
The police realised the stunt had been performed by Storror when they found the video online.
The members were eventually located in a five-star hotel and taken in for questioning by Dadar Police.
No case was registered against them.
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