12 Bangladeshis arrested in Tripura for entering India illegally

Agartala: Altogether 12 Bangladesh nationals and one Indian facilitator have been arrested from two places in West Tripura district since Saturday, police said.

Seven Bangladesh nationals along with their Indian facilitator were arrested from the Bamutia area in the West Tripura district on Sunday, a police officer said.

Acting on a tip-off about the movement of a group of Bangladeshis in an autorickshaw a police team went to Berimura, a locality near the Indo-Bangladesh border, intercepted the vehicle and detained seven foreign nationals, the Officer in Charge (OC), Lefunga police station, Sahadeb Das told reporters.

They could not show valid documents for travelling to India, following which all seven were arrested for illegally entering foreign soil, he said.

“We also arrested one auto driver, identified as Jiban Baish, an Indian resident for helping the Bangladeshi nationals. A specific case has been lodged against all the arrested people,” he said.

In another incident on Saturday, the BSF arrested five Bangladeshis from the Lankamura area on the outskirts of Agartala on Saturday.

“The BSF jawans while patrolling along the border spotted the movement of some suspicious persons and detained them for entering Indian territory without passports,” the Officer in Charge (OC), West Agartala police station, Paritosh Das said on Sunday.

Later, all the Bangladeshi citizens were handed over to us. They were arrested for violating the Indian Passport Act, Das said.