Officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are interrogating 24 Bangladeshi youths arrested in Agartala on Thursday reportedly before they could return to their country, a senior police officer said on Saturday evening.
“A two-member NIA team from Guwahati is interrogating since Friday the 24 Bangladeshi youths lodged in three different police stations in Agartala,” Tripura Police Mobile Task Force (MTF) Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhijit Chaudhuri told reporters here. A local court sent the intruders to seven-day police custody on Friday.
The MTF personnel on Thursday arrested the 24 Bangladeshi youths as they reached the Agartala Railway Station from outside the state.
“These youths after entering India illegally, probably through West Bengal borders, mostly stayed in Uttar Pradesh,” the MTF SP said.
“Documents and identity cards of madrasas of different states, along with mobile phones and Indian currencies, were recovered from the intruders. They have no valid passports,” Chaudhuri said.
Once the interrogation is over, these youths would be handed over to the Government Railway Police.The interrogators are yet to disclose whether the Bangladeshi nationals were involved in any crime in India.
Tripura shares an 856km border with Bangladesh, most of which is fenced except some stretches in the eastern frontier of the mountainous state.