Three Bangladeshi women and as many Indian touts were arrested at the Badharghat railway station in Agartala on Sunday as they attempted to board the Kanchanjunga Express headed to Kolkata, police said.
A senior police officer identified the Bangladeshi nationals as Mousumi, Jharna and Rahima, all of whom had allegedly entered Indian territory illegally with the help of three touts, Rahima Akhter, Afzar Alam and Mamon Hussein, identified as belonging to the Sonamura subdivision in Tripura’s Sepahijala district.
An officer of the Government Railway Police said that the touts and foreign nationals were arrested after their behaviour was found suspicious. The Bangladeshi women failed to produce their identity documents when asked to, the officer added.
A complaint was registered with the railway police and the accused were later handed over to the local police. The Bangladeshis were charged with violation of the Passports Act and the Foreigners Act, while the touts were booked under charges of human trafficking.
As per preliminary investigation, the Bangladeshi nationals entered Indian soil through parts of Sonamura, which is very close to the Indo-Bangla border.
Tripura shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh, the second-longest border with that country in any state, after West Bengal. Many patches of this international border remain unfenced owing to local disputes.