Dr. Bhashyam Kasturi
Sergio Gor visits Manipur during BRICS
Just when the high visibility BRICS Summit was taking place in New Delhi, the US Ambassador Sergio Gor was touring India’s North-Eastern state of Manipur between 11-12 September 2026. He was perhaps visiting the region to familiarize himself with the State and see how the North-Eastern region could have better linkages with the US. But for security observers, his visit has importance. Here is a state that has been racked by violence and narco-terrorism and yet the US Ambassador chooses to visit and do some sightseeing? Things do not add up. The Chief Minister of Manipur Y.K. Singh subsequently tweeted: “We had the opportunity to discuss relations between the United States and Manipur. I am confident that the engagement between the United States and Manipur (India) will strengthen in the years to come.” The US is an interested party in the region, because of its interests in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Sergio Gor’s visit to Manipur comes at a time when the state is caught in a wave of ethnic strife between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities. This has only escalated in the past few months with episodes of violence between Kukis and Nagas. The State Government estimates that at least 306 people have been killed, and 49 are still missing in Manipur, where ethnic violence had first flared up in May 2023, in the aftermath of a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ organised in the hill districts, to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribes status. From an American perspective, India’s North-East is important for US’s plans for Myanmar and Bangladesh, that is why Gor visited Manipur.
US interests in the North-East, Bangladesh & Myanmar
US interests in the region centre around support to the Bangladesh government under the BNP, with possibility of securing a military base. But more practically, it serves US interest if private military contractors, usually working for the State Department or the Pentagon to train, Bangladesh law enforcement and military officers. The other strategic objective is to train insurgent forces in Myanmar to fight the military-led government. Last year, the US established a military logistic base close to Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar. They also met representatives of the Chin National Front and the Arakan Army.
Individual Cases of US Nationals Analysed
The US is channelling arms and weapons to anti-government forces in Myanmar, including the Arakan National Army. There have been stray cases of US nationals involved in such activity. In August 2025, Nepal’s Immigration Authority arrested Daniel Stephen Courney, a former US Army veteran, on charges of unlawful activities for preaching Christianity and attempting to convert the locals. Of far greater concern was his alleged missionary work in Manipur in 2023, wherein he also was involved in supplying arms to insurgent groups. Social media posts surfaced online and revealed that Courney under the guise of humanitarian aid, had been distributing military-grade protective gear, including long-range surveillance drones (capable of operations beyond five kilometres), bulletproof jackets, combat helmets, boots, sleeping bags, and other military equipment to Kuki militants in Manipur.
The other more recent case is that of Matthew Aaron Van Dyke, who along with six Ukrainian nationals had been arrested by law officials, while they were transiting through Mizoram. Van Dyke and his associates were alleged to have been involved in the supply of drones and other equipment to insurgents fighting the Myanmar government. This must have been the Arakan Army. The firm run by Van Dyke, Sons of Liberty International, had been operational in Ukraine since 2022 and involved in training, which is also something they were doing in Myanmar, the new angle being Ukrainian nationals being his partners. After all, Ukraine has the expertise in drone warfare against Russia today. February 2026, a drone strike at Myiktina airfield on a Myanmar airlines ATR-72, passenger aircraft is suspected to have been carried out by insurgents using a drone supplied by Van Dyke and party.
Another case of a retired US Special Forces officer, Colonel Terence Averelle Jackson, Van Dyke, was involved in training and providing logistics in Bangladesh. Jackson had served with the 1st US Special Forces Command. Jackson, when he arrived in Dhaka stayed under the cover of Chief Risk Officer at Lee and Jackson Management LLC, with some reports claiming that he was a serving US Army officer. In fact, Jackson was in touch with another American national, Richard Daniel Roman, working with Makwa Global, who was also involved in training of Bangladesh Military officers at Rajshahi. Roman left Bangladesh abruptly a few days after Jackson’s death in Singapore. The reasons for Jackson’s death in Dhaka at the Westin hotel last year are still unexplained, but the fact that US officials took over his body and sent it back to the US shows the ability of Washington DC to pull strings when required.
This ability was again demonstrated in the reported meetings between US Ambassador Sergio Gor and Indian officials, including with the NSA, and Home Minister and according to tweets by Van Dyke’s family, it was this which eventually led to Van Dyke’s bail.
Jordan Brown, is another instance of a US citizen (later proved to be a UK national) who was arrested along the UP-Nepal border in July 2026, while trying to cross over into Nepal by the SSB. Strangely, Brown was carrying a Chinese passport, when arrested. At that time, he gave contradictory statements, claiming he had lost his passport in Thailand, entered India by sea and lived in Goa without any documents since November 2025. He claimed that he was going to Nepal to meet a contact. For a US citizen to be arrested on the border with Nepal, with no documentation and being bare chested seems highly unusual. The other twist came a little later, which showed that Brown was actually a British citizen and this was reportedly confirmed by the UK Embassy in Delhi.
The narrative that was spun by Brown, probably not his real name, was that he had worked with the US Green Berets and then married an Indian Yoga instructor in Italy in 2024. A UK national with a Chinese passport trying to enter Nepal and having lived freely in India since November 2025? What on earth is going on? It is probable that he lost his US/UK passport in Thailand and obtained a fake Chinese passport to travel to India. However, that needs to be proved. He could have got another passport from the US Consulate in Thailand. It also became apparent when Brown was sent to Tohar Jail on 19th September, that he had two other aliases, namely, Jordan Joseph Peter Fitzpatrick and Logan Miller. He allegedly escaped Indian immigration authorities in October 2025.
Airport Immigration FIR revealed his UK nationality
This fact is revealed by the FIR filed by the airport police, based on a complaint filed by an Immigration Officer, after Air India claimed the passenger had ‘disappeared’. Really? How on earth did that happen? Jordan Brown was a deportee who had been in custody in Thailand. Around 7.30 am on 28 October 2025, when he was waiting in the international transit area for an onward flight to the UK. That’s when he escaped. Why are officials in Air India not being held accountable? What was the CISF doing? Too many questions and too few answers? Here is a known criminal who is wanted in the UK for assault on a minor child and is alleged to have committed a crime in Thailand also. Petty criminal, but one who manages to evade law officers at IGI Airport. Quite unbelievable!
Worrisome signs
There have been several instances of foreign nationals becoming involved in illegal activities in India, including cases with links to the Northeast and Nepal. The case of Jordan Brown may, on the face of it, appear to be one of ordinary criminality. Yet the ease with which such individuals can move within India raises broader questions about gaps in surveillance, immigration controls and the country’s internal security architecture.
That most were apprehended thanks to alert police and paramilitary staff indicates that all is not lost. Intelligence officials say that in most of such cases, the US Central Intelligence Agency sends an individual under cover with a specific mission. Even the companies registered by these individuals could be a cover. After all the CIA established fake company in the 1960s just to obtain a sunken Russian nuclear submarine.
Therefore, India’s intelligence agencies would do well to do a thorough and detailed analysis of foreigners living or transiting through India. This will be useful in ascertaining the antecedents and whereabouts of all such foreigners living and working in India.
