1 Bangladeshi national, 1 Indian tout arrested in Tripura

During the preliminary interrogation, the investigators found that Ray, a resident of Sylhet district in Bangladesh, illegally entered Tripura and had planned to go to Kolkata from the Agartala railway station.

“We seized some documents and some Indian currency. We are examining these things,” said an officer.

In a separate incident, an Indian human trafficker, a resident of Chanipur in West Tripura district, was also arrested during a joint operation conducted by security agencies.

A GRP officer said the trafficker, identified as Debasish Malakar alias Debu, used to provide food and shelter to Bangladeshi nationals who entered Tripura illegally.

“He was absconding for a long time. We arrested him yesterday (Wednesday) and produced before court today (Friday),” he said.

Several Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas have been arrested for entering Tripura illegally in recent months.

As per a report of the Tripura Police, 816 Bangladeshi nationals, 79 Rohingya persons and two Nigerians were arrested in the state between January 1, 2024, and February 28 this year.

Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, who also holds the Home portfolio, recently informed that 2,815 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested for illegally crossing the Indo-Bangla border into Tripura from 2022 to October 31, 2024, out of which 1,746 have been pushed back to their country and 1,069 are housed in jail custody, temporary detention centres, shelter homes or are out on bail.

Tripura shares 856 km of international border with Bangladesh, much of which is covered with barbed wire fence except a few patches that are still unfenced due to local disputes.