Despite strong surveillance in entire stretch of India-Bangladesh along with Tripura after unrest in Bangladesh to stop any attempt infiltration by Bangladeshi anti-social elements, altogether 11 Bangladesh nationals including women and three Indian touts were arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) from Agartala railway station and the infiltration from the neighbouring country into Tripura still unabated.

In another incident, BSF jawans posted at bordering Kailashahar area of Unakoti district have also detained two more Bangladeshi including a woman, when they managed to sneak into Indian territory through barbed wire fencing.

Giving details, officer-in-charge (OC) of GRP, Agartala Railway station, Tapash Das said that based on secret information, a joint contingent of GRP and RPF arrested 11 Bangladesh national including seven male and four female along with three Indian touts on Saturday evening before they board in a long-distance train to travel to Kolkata from Agartala Railway station for entering India illegally.

The Bangladeshi nationals, aged between 19 to 42 years and majority of them were the residents of violence affected Khagrachari area of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), said OC of GRP of Agartala railway station, Tapash das and added that they came to India in search of jobs. He said that all arrested Bangladesh nationals and Indian touts would be produced before a local court with police remand appeals for further interrogation.

Arrested Bangladeshi national were identified as Md Robel (20), Kamrul Hasan (24), Kashem (19), Md Ayub Ali (25), Shohag Miah (27), Md Kamal Uddin (40), all are the residents of Khagrachari of CHT. Manoara Begam (35), Swapna Khatun (26), Jali Begam (25) and Parvin Begam (45), are the residents of Narail district of Bangladesh. Arrested three Indian touts were identified as Prasenjit Sarkar (22) of Silchar, Assam, Niyamat Hossain (31) and Pintu Miah (27) of Bhati Abhoynagar, Agartala.

BSF sources said that on Saturday based on specific inputs, BSF troops detained two Bangladeshi including women and man from the bordering areas of Kailashahar subdivision of Unakoti district while they were negotiating the border fence. Soon after they entered Indian territory, BSF jawans detained Bangladesh nationals, identified as Mohammad Sahid (38) and Aklima Begam (25), who were handed over to police personnel of Irani police station for further legal proceedings.

In recent times BSF has not only intensified the operations against the infiltrators but also strengthened the anti-infiltration apparatus to prevent the infiltration into Indian territory.

The bordering Tripura, which is a top hotspot travelling destination for human trafficking, specially for Rohingyas and Bangladesh nationals, who were illegally entered into Indian territory and moves towards other parts of the country through different means of surface communication with help of Indian and Bangladeshi touts, but many time, the alert security forces have also managed to detain them.

A Border Security Force (BSF) spokesman said that the paramilitary forces are cracking down heavily on the illegal migration by Bangladeshi nationals and have stepped up the vigil in close coordination with sister agencies in the border area.

Following the direction of Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, the BSF has stepped up its drive against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and all field formations are actively breaking down the nexus of touts in the bordering areas.

BSF has enhanced the vigil and operations along the border to foil the attempts of infiltrators and touts

It may be recalled here that Tripura Frontier Inspector General Patel Piyush Purushottam Das said that 95 percent of the 856 km India-Bangladesh border with Tripura has already been fenced, while fencing work is going on in the remaining 27.5 km.

Over the last three months, more than 250 Bangladeshi nationals and 45 Rohingyas were arrested by the GRP, BSF and Tripura Police from the Agartala railway station and various other places in Tripura after they illegally entered India.

Officials said that all the Bangladeshis and Rohingyas illegally entered Tripura to board trains or buses to go to other states in India “in search of jobs”.