8 Bangladeshis held in Tripura for intrusion

Nine persons, including eight Bangladeshi nationals and an Indian tout, were arrested in Tripura while they were about to leave for Maharashtra.

They were arrested at Agartala Railway Station following a joint operation conducted by the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF).

GRP station in-charge Tapas Das stated that the eight Bangladeshi nationals confessed that they came from across the border.

“We traced them while they were about to board Kanchanjunga Express. We have initiated action against the detainees under the Foreigner’s Act, IPC, and Indian Passport Act. Investigation is on to trace their entry point,” said the GRP official.

In the preliminary investigation, they found that the Indian tout facilitated the Bangladeshi nationals in entering Tripura illegally and later, they were about to move to Maharashtra likely for employment.

Earlier on May 5, Tripura Police arrested eight Bangladeshi nationals and detained three children at two places in Dhalai district on Saturday.

As many as 1,018 individuals were arrested from January 2023 till April this year while they were illegally crossing the border in different parts of Tripura. Among them were 498 Bangladeshi citizens, 396 Indian nationals and 124 Rohingya persons.

The detentions of people illegally crossing the border in Tripura has gone up significantly from the previous years as the Border Security Force detained 369 individuals, including 59 Rohingya, 160 Indians and 150 Bangladeshi nationals across the state in 2022 apart from recovering a significant cache of drugs and contraband. In 2021, 208 “intruders”, including 115 Indian and 93 Bangladeshi nationals, were arrested.

While no Rohingya or foreigners other than Bangladeshi nationals were arrested crossing the border illegally in 2020, as many as 53 Rohingya and one Nigerian national were arrested in 2019.

Source: The Indian Express