108 including 77 foreign infiltrators held in Tripura in July: BSF officials
The officials said that in order to prevent trans-border crimes and infiltration, the BSF beefed up troops on borders, especially in the smuggling and infiltration-prone areas, and inducted drones and state-of-the-art hand-held thermal imaging and surveillance
Agartala: As many as 108 people, including 77 foreign nationals, 23 Indians, and eight touts, were apprehended in July for infiltration, transborder smuggling, and facilitating illegal migration, Border Security Force (BSF) officials said on Thursday.
Among the 77 foreign nationals, 71 were Bangladeshi nationals, and the rest were Rohingyas, said officials.
The BSF said that apart from the infiltration bit, 56 incidents of firing from non-lethal weapons took place at the border in July this year, where over 70 rounds were fired to prevent infiltration and the trans-border criminals, in which six were injured. In the same duration, contraband items worth over Rs.4 crore, including 12,692 pieces of Yaba tablets, 360 kilograms of cannabis, 84.6 kilograms of sugar, 5,669 bottles of codeine-based syrup, and 180 cattle, were seized by BSF either alone or in joint operation. Besides, the BSF destroyed 76,000 ganja plants during their joint operation with the Forest Department last month.
The officials said that in order to prevent trans-border crimes and infiltration, the BSF beefed up troops on borders, especially in the smuggling and infiltration-prone areas, and inducted drones and state-of-the-art hand-held thermal imaging and surveillance.
Inspector-general of police, BSF, Tripura, Patel Piyush Purushottam Das, asked all field commanders to coordinate with Tripura Police, Tipura State Rifles, Government Railway Police, Railway Protection Force, Customs, Reserve Inspectors, Forest Department, and other sister agencies for carrying out operations against illegal infiltrators and trans-border smugglers.
Amidst the ongoing violence in Bangladesh, the BSF is monitoring developments and maintaining coordination with the Border Guards of Bangladesh (BGB), said officials. Four commandant-level flag meetings and 150 company commander/BOP level meetings with BGB were held last month in addition to the IG BSF-region commander-level conference.
The vulnerable areas are being dominated by BSF and BGB jointly by carrying out special coordinated patrols, and more than 100 such patrols have been carried out in the month of July 2024. This has reinforced the mutual trust between the two border guarding forces and has greatly enhanced the synergy, read a press statement from the BSF.
It mentioned that the BSF also facilitated the safe return of over 900 Indian students who were studying in Bangladesh till date due to turmoil there.