7 Bangladeshi nationals held at Agartala station for illegally entering India; two among them dressed up as women

The official said the Bangladeshi nationals couldn’t exactly tell which part of Tripura they used to cross the international border but said it took them an hour or so to reach the railway station from the border. “We are assuming they used Comilla or adjoining areas to cross into Indian soil,” the official said.

Asked if the sleuths have found the reason behind their illegal entry defying tight security ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the official said they have seized a few smartphones from them and the devices are being checked to ascertain if they have any connection with any international groups.

According to information, two of the arrestees were cross-dressers and had tried to sneak through the railway station posing as women. The GRP official said that initially they were assumed to be transgenders but they later revealed that they tried to pose as women while moving out of the state.

A complaint was registered with the Government Railway Police station at Badharghat to unearth further details about the arrestees. They were produced before a local court on Saturday.

Incidentally, two persons were nabbed on Friday at the same railway station based on their suspicious movements. One of them later turned out to be a Bangladeshi girl while the other was identified as an Indian tout. Touts are people who assist people to illegally cross over to India.

Tripura, which is surrounded by Bangladesh on three sides, shares an 856-km-long international border, parts of which are still unfenced in patches due to local disputes over land and demarcation-related issues.