The Tripura government will set up a Special Task Force (STF) to tackle crime and mafia syndicates, said Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha on Saturday.

speaking at a Police Commemoration Day event at Arundhatinagar Police Grounds in Agartala after paying homage at the Martyrs Memorial, Chief Minister said that as many as 1,417 personnel from two India Reserve (IR) battalions of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) have been recruited for the purpose and are presently undergoing training and among the total 1,417 recruits, 137 of them are women.

He said the state government has zero tolerance for criminals and he personally keeps an eye on the situation.

He said that police are working 24×7 to tackle Rohingya infiltration, drug menace, road accidents and identified Rohingya infiltration, illegal drug menace, threat of anti-socials, crime syndicates and road accidents among major challenges to the law-and-order situation in the state.

The police force undertakes the great job of protecting citizens and the society and are working tirelessly for internal and external security. Tripura Police was even awarded the President’s Colours, he said and remembered police personnel who died in the line of duty and paid his respects to them.

The Chief Minister police were identifying Rohingya infiltrators and taking appropriate legal action against them. As per a Border Security Force (BSF) report, 369 people were arrested, including 59 Rohingya, 160 Indians and 150 Bangladeshi nationals, in different operations in Tripura in 2022.

On the issue of drug menace and the government's declared mission to achieve a drug-free state, Dr Saha said, “We often speak of achieving Nasha Mukta Tripura. It is the police who are working tirelessly every day. They are registering NDPS cases every day but we see a high amount of drugs coming to Tripura from other states in the Northeast region and drugs are going outside from Tripura as well. Tripura now has the highest seizure and destruction of drugs in the Northeast region.”

Dr Saha also said the state police is taking steps to reduce accidents and related casualties and the administration is constantly in talks with the police through interactions of the chief secretary and the DGP and government want the state policing to be developed and modernised on a par with the rest of the country.

Among steps to modernise the state police force, a separate crime branch police station was set up, a public outreach programme Prayas was launched, and 33 per cent women reservation was introduced in the force which included 137 women TSR personnel serving in the state’s counter-insurgency unit and other law and order duties.

The government has given priority to stop criminal syndicates and has formed a separate task force for this purpose, said Dr Saha and added that the state government is also in the process of modernising the cybercrime unit of the state police and work is on to set up a cybercrime police station.

He also advised the police and security establishments to be patient while doing their duty. He said they should work in such a manner that they earn appreciation and support from the general public.

CM has also lauded security personnel for their supreme sacrifice in the line of duty. The day is annually observed to pay homage to the personnel of the police and security forces who laid down lives in counter-insurgency operations. Several hundred men in uniform died in the operations that ran for almost three decades.