Tripura: ‘Bangladeshi’, 2 from Assam held while crossing into India

Silchar: Two persons, including a woman, from Assam and a suspected Bangladeshi were arrested by Border Security Force (BSF) jawans in Baithangbari (Malakar Basti) under Dharmanagar police station in North Tripura district of Tripura near the Indo-Bangladesh international border on Wednesday evening.

The three persons had allegedly gone to Bangladesh illegally a few days ago and were coming back into India on Wednesday evening when they were nabbed by BSF personnel.

The apprehended persons were identified as Adhir Das (56), his wife Minu Das (41) and Ajit Das (60). As per police investigation, Adhir and Minu hail from Borkhola in southern Assam’s Cachar district, while Ajit is from Bangladesh.

According to information obtained from BSF sources, the three persons had gone to Bangladesh illegally (without any valid documents) a few days ago with the help of agents to visit a relative. They were caught by jawans of the BSF (139 battalion camp) in Baithangbari, about 130km from Silchar town, on Wednesday evening while they were returning back to India. They were later handed over to the Dharmanagar police, the sources in BSF said.

A source in police said Ajit Das, during police interrogation, claimed he hails from Panisagar in North Tripura district of Tripura and that he was not a Bangladeshi. Adhir and Minu confessed about going to Bangladesh without valid papers, the source in police said.

Dharmanagar police station‘s officer in-charge Shibu Ranjan Dey said the matter was being investigated from various angles. The three arrested persons will be produced before a court (chief judicial magistrate) in Dharmanagar on Friday, the officer in-charge said.

Three Bangladeshis were arrested for illegally entering India through the Bangladesh border in Kailasahar in Tripura’s Unakoti district on March 24.

In November, 2022, five Bangladeshi immigrants were arrested from two different areas near the Assam-Tripura border near Barak Valley by security forces while they were trying to return back to their native place.

Police investigation had revealed that the arrested accused came to India illegally a few months back in search of jobs.

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