16 Bangladeshi nationals arrested in Tripura

Guwahati: Some 16 Bangladeshi nationals, including three women, were arrested in Tripura earlier this week for illegally entring India, according to a senior official.

The arrests were made by Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel at Agartala railway station on Tuesday night, the official said, adding that the infiltrators told the interrogators that they had fled their trouble-torn country to save themselves and look for work.

Thirteen of those apprehended are in the 20-40 years age group and are residents of Rajshahi division's Chapainawabganj district. The rest are residents of Gazipur district under Dhaka division.


Tripura shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh's Chittagong and Sylhet divisions. Over the last three months, around 250 Bangladeshi nationals and 32 Rohingyas were arrested by the GRP, the Border Security Force (BSF), and Tripura Police from various places in the state for illegally entering India.

BSF's Tripura frontiers Inspector General Patel Piyush Purusottam Das and other senior officials have been closely monitoring the bordering areas after the political crisis in Bangladesh.

Das said he has directed all commanders, posted along the borders, to step up coordination with all law enforcement and sister agencies for sharing of intelligence inputs and carrying out joint operations, both on the border and hinterland, against illegal infiltrators and trans-border smugglers. The BSF, in coordination with the BGB, is also conducting joint patrolling along the India-Bangladesh border to prevent infiltration and border crimes, the official said.