Infiltration from Bangladesh into Tripura remained unstoppable and now 12 more Bangladesh nationals including three women were arrested by Agartala city police for their illegal entry into India.

A police officer said that during a routine patrol, the police arrested 12 Bangladesh citizens, including three women, at Ramnagar areas on the outskirts of Agartala in West Tripura district on Saturday night.

“The interrogations of the detainees are on. We are not yet sure why they entered India. We have registered a case under the Foreigners Act and Passport Act. They would be produced in a local court here on Sunday,” the police officer told the media.

He said that in view of the unabated trend of infiltration from trouble-torn Bangladesh, the police would intensify their vigil and patrolling in the border villages.

On Friday, the Border Security Force (BSF) troopers apprehended 10 Bangladeshi nationals at Sanmura on the outskirts of the capital city.

On Sunday, a BSF Spokesman said that the border guarding troops during the past few days foiled several infiltration bids in different bordering areas and also arrested some Indian touts and human traffickers during the past two weeks.

Over the last two-and-a-half months, around 200 Bangladeshi nationals and 32 Rohingyas were arrested by the Government Railway Police, BSF, and Tripura Police from the Agartala railway station and various other places in Tripura after they illegally entered India.

Most of the Bangladesh nationals told the security personnel that they intend to go to Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai “in search of jobs”. 

The BSF Spokesman said that in view of ongoing unrest in Bangladesh, the BSF has stepped up its vigilance along the 856-km border with Tripura and maintained close coordination with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) at various levels.

He said that to maintain close coordination with Bangladesh border guarding forces, during July, in addition to the Inspector General BSF-Region Commander BGB level conference, four Commandant level flag meetings and 150 Company Commander/Border Out Post (BOP) level meetings with BGB were held.

Saying that the BSF has introduced a multi-pronged strategy to prevent trans-border crime and illegal infiltration, the spokesman informed that surveillance has been stepped up and state of the art Hand Held Thermal Imagers and Drones have been inducted.

BSF’s Tripura frontier Inspector General Patel Piyush Purushottam Das also said that he has directed all commanders, posted along the borders, to step up coordination with all law enforcing and sister agencies for sharing of intelligence inputs and carrying out joint operations both on 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 borders to prevent infiltration and numerous border crimes, the official said.