By Firstdespatch Desk Jun 11, 2023
Agrtala, Jun 11: Five individuals from Bangladesh, consisting of three men and two women, were detained at Dharmanagar railway station on Saturday morning while boarding the Agartala-Bengalore bound Humsafar Express.
The detained Bangladeshi nationals have been identified as Shafiqul Islam (40) from Pashurgunia, Mumtaz Alchtar (18) from Pushkhali, Rozina Begum (35) from Pushkhali, Mohammad Rafiq (27) from Pashurgunia, and Shahab All Sheikh (61) from Pasurganiya.
Acting on a tip-off, Dharmanagar police along with officials of the Government Railway Police and Border Security Force conducted a search and detained the suspected Bangladeshis from the train.
"We had a tip off that few suspected Bangladeshi nationals were about to get on board the Agartala-Bengaluru Humsafar Express. We conducted a search operation in the train along with officials of the Government Railway Police and Border Security Force and found five persons on the basis of suspicion,” an official of the local police station said.
During preliminary interrogation to the illegal entrants, it was revealed that they had each paid a sum of Rs 20,000 to a broker who guided them in crossing the international border. The broker facilitated their passage through a location called Amtali in Bangladesh under the cover of darkness.
They claimed not to have encountered any Border Security Force (BSF) personnel at the spot and subsequently made their way to Agartala railway station.
Among the five individuals, Mohammad Rafiq had been employed in Bangalore for several years and had previously helped the entry of additional Bangladeshi nationals into Bangalore for employment purposes. Police sources have stated that the apprehended illegal Bangladeshi entrants will be presented before the court, and further interrogation is expected to unveil the connections of local brokers involved in such illicit activities.
A case has been registered on the issue and investigaton has been started, the official said.
Earlier on May 16 this year, five Rohingya persons were arrested from the same railway station after they illegally crossed the Indo-Bangla international border and tried to board a train to leave the state and finally reach Jammu.
Three Bangladeshi nationals were arrested for intruding India through the Indo-Bangla border at Latiapara village panchayat in Kailasahar of Unakoti district in March this year.
As per a BSF report, 369 people were arrested, including 59 Rohingya, 160 Indians and 150 Bangladeshi nationals, in different operations in Tripura in 2022. FD PD