Nine women among 11 Bangladeshis again arrested from Agartala rail station, 94 in less than 2 months

With fresh influx of 11 more Bangladesh nationals and their detention again from Agartala Railway station has raised serious concern over internal security for frequent infiltration allegedly over negligence duties by Border Guards with international border with Tripura.

Within a span of five days, altogether 33 Bangladesh nationals including women and children were arrested from Agartala Railway station before their boarding to a long distance train, who were illegally entered into India.

Earlier, on Saturday (June 29) evening 11 Bangladeshi and on Monday (July 1st) including five women were arrested from Agartala Railway station.

Again on Tuesday evening (July 2nd) 11 more Bangladeshi nationals, including nine women, were arrested from Agartala railway station for entering India without any valid travel document.

Acting on a tip-off, the Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel arrested the Bangladeshi nationals, aged between 13 to 36 years, from the railway station on Tuesday night just before they boarded a Guwahati-bound train. Out of nine women detainees, three kids accompanied their three mothers.

Speaking to media persons, officer-in-charge (OC) Government Railway Police Station at Agartala Railway Station,  Tapash Das said arrested Bangladeshi citizens told the GRP personnel that they came to Tripura illegally to go to Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore or other cities of India by train in search of jobs.

With the arrest of 11 Bangladeshi on Tuesday , altogether 33 Bangladeshi were arrested in last five and  94 Bangladeshi nationals, mostly women, were arrested in Tripura in less than two months and all the trespassers entered into India through clandestine routes and in search of jobs in other parts of the country.

Tapash Das said in the month of June, a total of 39 Bangladeshi were arrested including five kids. The police have also arrested five Indian touts or human traffickers for direct involvement with trafficking of Bangladesh nationals into Indian territory. In the first two days of July, a total 22 Bangladeshi and two more Indian touts were also arrested, who were directly involved in human trafficking.

On Wednesday all 11 arrested Bangladeshi including a minor and two Indian touts, who were arrested from Bishalgarh subdivision under Sepahijala district were produced before a local court with police remand appeals for the further interrogation to find out human trafficking network, said OC, Tapash Das.

The Agartala railway station, which has become a hot destination for Bangladesh nationals, who were sneaking into Indian territory and through passenger train services, they managed to enter different big cities of the country with help of human traffickers. Sometime, due to vigilant duties of Government Railway Police (GRP) and other security forces, they were detained from different parts of Tripura. But, main concern is that despite barbed wire fencing along Indo-Bangla border with Tripura and constant deployment of BSF jawans, how groups of Bangladesh nationals managed to sneak into Indian territory without any valid documents. Despite most parts of the 856 km India-Bangladesh border in Tripura being already fenced and strict security maintained, Bangladeshi nationals are often being caught in different parts of Tripura.

Tapash Das said that based on secret information over movement of Bangladesh nationals, GRP and RPF acted promptly and managed to detain 11 Bangladeshi including nine women on Sunday (July 2nd)  evening,  who were illegally entered India and were trying to board a train towards their destinations for different big cities of the country.

According to preliminary investigation, the women had plans to go to Kolkata first, then will board trains for their other destinations, said Das.

Police have also seized a few mobile phones, some Indian and Bangladesh currencies along with some documents of Bangladesh.

While, a senior police official posted at headquarters said that  they are investigating whether these Bangladeshi nationals are part of any human trafficking attempts.