Over 2,500 Bangladeshi nationals held in Tripura in last 3 years: CM Saha

Agartala, Jan 13 A total of 2,815 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested in Tripura during the past three years for their illegal entry into India and 1,746 of them deported to their country so far, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha told the Assembly on Monday.

Replying to the questions of three MLAs – Jitendra Chowdhury and Nayan Sarkar, both CPI-M and Ranjit Debbarma (Tipra Motha Party) – the Chief Minister said out of 2,815 detained Bangladeshi nationals till October last year, 474 are in various jails in Tripura, eight in detention centres, two are in shelter home, while 585 got bail from the court.

Officials said that the Bangladeshi nationals have been entering into India with the help of Indian touts and human traffickers.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested 44 human traffickers, all Indians, in the last five months in Tripura for facilitating the illegal entry of Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas into India.

The Chief Minister in a separate reply to a question of Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman said that in 2023, National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested 25 human traffickers.

Over the last six months, around 625 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.

The spokesperson said that BSF is maintaining a high level of alertness on the international border to prevent infiltration and trans border crimes.

Saha said that after the Bangladesh unrest began last year, the BSF has intensified its domination and operations along the 856-km India-Bangladesh border in Tripura to prevent infiltration, exfiltration, and trans-border crimes including smuggling of contraband.

Tripura, which is surrounded by Bangladesh on three sides, parts of which are still unfenced in patches due to local disputes on land and demarcation-related issues. The BSF alone last year arrested 55 Rohingyas, 620 Bangladeshi nationals and 260 Indian nationals including human traffickers in various operations.