Two more Rohingyas held in Tripura; Indian currencies and mobiles seized

Agartala, Nov 1 (IANS) Along with Bangladesh nationals, the arrest of Rohingyas in the northeastern state of Tripura continues unabated, as two more Myanmar nationals were apprehended by the Border Security Force (BSF) in the state on Friday, officials said.

A BSF spokesman said that on a specific information, regarding the presence and movement of illegal migrants in the Karbook area in southern Tripura, two Rohingyas were apprehended at a bus stand by the border guarding troops of border outpost (BOP) Bhatiabari under Gomati District while they were planning to exfiltrate into Bangladesh.

He said that both the apprehended Rohingya illegal migrants are inmates of the Rohingya refugee Camp located in Cox Bazar in southeast Bangladesh.

Indian currencies, mobile sets and UNHCR cards were recovered from the possession of the detainees.

In a separate incident, alert troops of BSF in different operations foiled various attempts of trans-border smuggling along the Indo-Bangladesh border and seized 1,600 kg of sugar and other contraband items worth Rs 4.76 lakh.

The Rohingyas illegally entered India after fleeing their camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar where more than one million displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar have been living since 2017.

BSF has enhanced the surveillance along the border to prevent trans-border crime and infiltration, the spokesman added.

Over the last three and a half months, around 440 Bangladeshi nationals and over 60 Rohingyas were arrested by the Government Railway Police, BSF and Tripura Police from the Agartala railway station and various other places in Tripura after they illegally entered India.

Though the majority of the Bangladeshi citizens illegally entered Tripura and arrested by the security forces were Muslims, there were Hindus also among the detainees.

The spokesman said that since the unrest in Bangladesh, the BSF has further beefed up security along the 856 km India-Bangladesh border with Tripura to prevent illegal cross-border movement of people and crimes.

Both the Bangladeshi nationals and the Rohingyas told the Indian security officials that they illegally entered India in search of jobs and shelter.

--IANS

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