Over 30 Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested from the Agartala Railway Station in the past few days. In most cases, they were trying to move to cities like Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai in search of work.

Government –BSF discussion about infiltration

Expressing concern over the recent spurt in infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals, Tripura chief minister, Manik Saha, asked Border Security Force (BSF) officers during a recent meeting to take action against those involved in facilitating infiltration and providing refuge to the foreign nationals.

As part of its follow-up action, BSF deputy inspector general SK Sinha said that they were installing surveillance equipment at vulnerable patches along the border with Bangladesh. The border security agency assured Saha that the force would identify and take action against touts involved in facilitating infiltration by illegal immigrants.

Initiatives taken by BSF to reduce infiltration

In recent months, the BSF has strengthened its operation against trans-border criminals and has cracked down on the networks of touts and smuggling of contraband items.

Highlighting the measures, BSF IG Patel Piyush Purushottam Das said field commanders have been asked to launch human intelligence-based operations to nab touts. Apart from the deployment of additional teams in-depth areas, physical domination has been increased with the help of surveillance cameras and facial recognition tools.

During a recently concluded four–day meeting between BSF and the regional commander of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) from July 1 in Shillong in Meghalaya, the BGB assured its Indian counterpart that it would take action after they were handed over a list of Bangladeshi touts and criminals. Both forces also decided to enhance coordinated patrol after identifying vulnerable patches.

Statistics of infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals in Tripura

According to a report compiled by the BSF, as many as 1018 persons including 498 Bangladeshi nationals have been detained in Tripura while trying to cross the Indo-Bangla international border from January last year until April 15 this year; of them, 426 were attempting to go out while 592 were coming.

The number of detained illegal immigrants increased last year across Tripura as they were using the northeastern state as a corridor to move to different parts of India. A network of touts in Tripura is involved in facilitating the infiltration, illegal border crossing and providing shelters and fake identity documents to the infiltrators to move to different destinations.

What police say

According to police records, as many as 177 persons including 146 Bangladeshis, three Rohingyas and 28 Indian touts have been arrested until the beginning of July. In 2023, out of a total of 345 arrested persons, 218 were Bangladeshis, 51 were Indian touts and 76 were Rohingyas.

“We are investigating these cases to find out the routes through which they are entering the state. So far, 29 cases have been registered in this regard this year. They were mostly charged with the Passport Act, 1920, Foreigner Act, 1946 and in some cases human trafficking cases were also included,” said a police officer who asked not to be named.

“We are also looking at whether these Bangladeshi nationals are involved in human trafficking racket. All these cases are under investigation”, said the officer.