17 Bangladesh nationals, 4 traffickers arrested by security forces since Republic Day

Amidst heightened vigil along the India-Bangladesh border, infiltration from the unrest hit Bangladesh into Tripura continued and altogether 17 Bangladeshi including women and four wanted Indian traffickers were arrested by security forces during the last one week.

After unrest in Bangladesh, the infiltration into the Northeastern states especially in Tripura and Assam has continued and in the last few months hundreds of Bangladesh nationals along with Rohingyas were arrested by security forces from different borders of the state.

While giving details, OC of GRP station of Agartala Railway station, Tapash Das said that a joint contingent of GRP, Tripura police and BSF based on secret information of Saturday managed to arrest two wanted Indian traffickers (Touts) from Sidhai area under West Tripura district, who were involved with infiltration of many   Bangladeshi and Rohingyas inside Indian territory. Both arrested traffickers were identified as Rajdhan Sarkar (25) of Sidhai and Akash Roy (27) of Lefunga, who were produced before a local court with police remand appeals for interrogation to unearth their nexus of infiltration.

He said that on Friday, the Government Railway Police (GRP) posted at Agartala Railway station had also managed to arrest three Bangladeshi girls before boarding a long distance train.

The Bangladeshi citizens after illegally entering Tripura were trying to board a train to go to Kolkata via Guwahati.

Das said that arrested Bangladeshi nationals were identified as Jannabi Khatun (22) of Khulna district of Bangladesh, Sabikun Nahar Kabita (26) of Dhaka and Nupur Akhtar (28) of Kishoreganj district of Bangladesh. All arrested Bangladeshi girls were produced before a local court for further legal proceedings.

While, the Border Security Force (BSF) said that they have enhanced vigilance and intensified its domination along the international border.

Since 26th January 2025 BSF troops have successfully thwarted several attempts of infiltration, exfiltration, and trans-border smuggling.

BSF of Tripura frontier through a press statement said that during various operations conducted independently and jointly, 14 Bangladeshi nationals and 2 Indian touts have been apprehended by the BSF. Additionally, a significant quantity of narcotics, sugar, cattle, and other contraband items worth ₹2.5 crore has been seized.

Maintaining strong coordination with the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), the BSF has conducted approximately 80 simultaneous coordinated patrols and organized multiple border coordination meetings at various levels.

It may be recalled here that 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.

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”.