The infiltration from the unrest hit Bangladesh into Tripura continued and amidst heightened vigil along the India-Bangladesh border during recent 3-days visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah for 72nd Plenary meeting of North Eastern Council (NEC) in Agartala, again six more Bangladeshi and two Indian traffickers (touts) including a woman were arrested by the security personnel from Agartala railway station before boarding to a long distance train.

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 based on secret information,  a joint contingent of Government Railway Police (GRP), RPF  and BSF along with Intelligence wing  managed to arrest four Bangladeshi including three women and male with two Indian touts  before their escape bid towards a long distance train towards Kolkata.

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 Debananda Das (55), Sefali Das (49), Jashmi Bala Das (18) and Golapi Das (19), all from Coxs Bazar district of Bangladesh. Two Indian touts were identified as Arjun Das (60) and Irani Das (27) of Bankura district of West Bengal and they were accompanied by two children.

Das  said that on December 26th evening, GRP had also arrested two more Bangladeshi including a woman before boarding a long distance train, who were identified as Rubel Das (26) and Api Rani Das (22) along with a three years old child.

He said that during preliminary interrogation, arrested Bangladeshi revealed  that they entered Indian territory with the help of touts and police are hoping that soon more suspects will be arrested . A specific case has been registered against them and all arrested Bangladeshi and touts were forwarded before a local court with police remand appeals on Friday afternoon for further interrogation.

GRP sources said that around 100 infiltrators including 87 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested during the past five months at the Agartala railway station alone, while hundreds of other intruders from across the border were nabbed in different places of Tripura.

After the unrest began in Bangladesh in July, especially after the fall of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5, the infiltration into India's Northeastern states increased to a large extent.

A senior official of the Government Railway Police (GRP) said that around 100 Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas were detained at the Agartala railway station between August 1 and December 24.

Besides the intruders, 28 Indian touts were also arrested for facilitating the infiltrators to cross the India-Bangladesh border illegally.

The Bangladeshi and the Rohingyas, after arrest, told the security personnel that they intended to go to Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and other places in India in search of jobs.

Over the last five months, around 600 Bangladeshi nationals and over 63 Rohingyas were arrested by the GRP, Border Security Force (BSF), and Tripura Police from the Agartala railway station and various other places in Tripura after they illegally entered India.

During this year (2024), 55 Rohingyas among 700 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh were apprehended in Tripura and various contraband worth around Rs 50 crore seized by BSF alone.

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 with the help of touts to board trains or buses to go to other states in India “in search of jobs”.