A joint team of the Government Railway Police (GRP) and the Railway Police Force (RPF) arrested 11 Bangladeshi nationals and three Indian touts from the Badharghat Railway Station in Agartala on Saturday. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Tapas Das, Agartala station in-charge, GRP, said, “We arrested 14 people last evening. Among them, 11 are Bangladeshi nationals who had illegally crossed the India-Bangladesh international border and were about to board long-haul trains to Ahmedabad and Chennai.” The Bangladeshi nationals have been identified as Md Robel, 28, Kamrul Hasan, 24, Md Sayim, 26, Kashem, 19, Md Ayub Ali, 25, Shohag Miah, 27, and Md Kamal Uddin, 40 – all from Khagrachari. While Manoara Begam, 35, Swapna Khatun, 26, Jali Begam, 25, and Parvin Begam, 45, are from Narail. Manoara Begam, Swapna Khatun, and Jali Begam are said to be Bangladeshi touts involved in facilitating cross-border human trafficking. Of the three Indian touts, two – Niyamat Hossain, 31, and Pintu Miah, 27 – are based in Tripura, while the third, Prasenjit Sarkar, has been identified to be a resident of Silchar in Assam. All the 14 accused were produced in a local court on Sunday with a plea for granting police custody for further investigation, the official said, adding that some Indian and Bangladeshi currency bills, Bangladeshi documents, and smartphones were seized from the arrested individuals. Last week, the Border Security Force (BSF) arrested three Bangladeshi nationals while they were trying to enter India by negotiating the border fence in Tripura’s Sepahijala district. The BSF has apprehended 76 Bangladeshi infiltrators in September alone. The security forces have increased vigil along the international border with Bangladesh following the recent political unrest in the neighbouring country. Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned from her post and fled to India following weeks of student-led popular uprising last month. Sporadic incidents of violence have been reported from Bangladesh even after Hasina left the country and an interim government was formed under the leadership of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
