A group of 16 police officers from Jorhat, Assam, ran into trouble on Tuesday night when Google Maps led them into Nagaland by mistake. The team was searching for a criminal they believed was hiding in a tea garden in Assam. However, they accidentally crossed the border into Nagaland’s Mokokchung district.

Most of the officers were not wearing uniforms, which made local residents suspicious. The locals thought the police officers, who were carrying weapons, were dangerous criminals. They captured the team and kept them overnight.

A senior Assam Police officer explained that the locals got confused when they saw the team, as 13 officers were not in uniform. The locals thought they were criminals carrying dangerous weapons. This misunderstanding caused the locals to attack the police, and one officer got hurt.

After the incident, the police in Jorhat reached out to the Superintendent of Police in Mokokchung for help. A rescue team was sent, and they managed to free five officers, including the injured one, that same night. The remaining 11 officers were released the next morning.

The entire team returned to Jorhat, reportedly shaken but safe.

This is not the first time GPS mistakes have caused problems. In December, a family from Bihar got lost in a dense forest in Karnataka while following directions to Goa. In another case, in November, three people died in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, when Google Maps directed their car onto an incomplete bridge, and it fell into the Ramganga River.

These incidents show the dangers of relying too much on GPS for important tasks or travel.