9 Bangladeshi Nationals arrested in North Tripura for illegal entry

Tripura shares a 857-kilometer-long border with Bangladesh, with only 50 kilometers remaining to be fenced with barbed wire

Nine Bangladeshi individuals, including three men, three women, and three children, were apprehended in the North Tripura district, according to a senior police official. The arrests occurred on Monday evening at the inter-state bus terminal (ISBT) in Dharmanagar town, near the Assam border, as the group was preparing to board a bus to Guwahati. Their intended destination was Ahmedabad in Gujarat, where they planned to travel by train.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Sheikh Saheb Ali (68), Billal Sheikh (34), Sharmin Begam (28), Atikur Rehaman (40), Sainika Begam (21), Hashi Begam (25), and three children.

Shibu Ranjan De, the Officer in Charge (IC) of Dharmanagar police station, stated, “We received information from the public regarding a few Bangladeshi citizens at Dharmanagar ISBT. Our team immediately responded and found three adult males, three adult females, and three children. They confessed to being citizens of Bangladesh and admitted to illegally entering Indian territory without valid documents. We have registered a special case against them, and an investigation is currently underway. One of the arrested individuals is unwell, and we will present them in court.”

One of the detained women, Sainika Begam, stated, “We were on our way to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where my father-in-law and mother-in-law have been living for a long time. I had entered illegally and was heading to Ahmedabad.”

Sheikh Saheb Ali, the oldest among the arrestees, stated, “We illegally crossed into Tripura from Bangladesh on Sunday, paying a tout a sum of seven thousand rupees per adult. In total, there were seven adults and three children. We arrived here by train but missed another train to Guwahati. So, we were trying to secure bus tickets to Guwahati and then proceed to Ahmedabad. My son resides there, and I had visited him before. We came for medical treatment, particularly for my eye surgery.”

During a massive police raid in the area, another Bangladeshi individual named Araj Mia managed to escape before being apprehended.

Tripura shares a 857-kilometer-long border with Bangladesh, with only 50 kilometers remaining to be fenced with barbed wire. Despite existing fences and a large number of border guards, illegal infiltration continues to be a problem. Regular arrests of Bangladeshi citizens and Rohingyas using the state as a transit corridor to other parts of the country are reported.

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