Three soldiers of the Rapid Action Batallion (RAB), Bangladesh, and two women were caught by the villagers of Rahimpur in Tripura’s Sipahijala district on Thursday night for trespassing into the Indian territory.
In a press release, BSF on Friday informed about the incident and said they have taken the five Bangladeshi nationals into their custody.
“During the investigation, we came to know that the three men are from the 11 RAB intelligence branch,” the BSF release stated.
“They entered India for carrying out a covert operation of apprehending one Abu Khair- an Indian drug smuggler,” the release further stated.
“The three RAB personnel left for India early on Thursday morning from Comilla and the two Bangladeshi women joined them on the way,” the release added.
The five Bangladeshi nationals crossed the international border around 7:30 pm in the evening and reached Abu Khair’s residence with the intention to arrest him.
When they handcuffed Khair, his family began shouting for help and hearing the noise the villagers reached his house and overpowered the five Bangladeshi nationals and handed them to the BSF.
“One pistol, 7 round bullets, two handcuffs, two RAB identity cards, two Bangladeshi identity cards, seven mobile phones and 1,50,000 Bangladeshi taka were recovered from their possession,” the release stated.
The five Bangladeshi nationals were later handed over to the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) after a Coy Commander level Flag meeting was held between BSF and BGB Coy Commander at BOP Sasidal.
BSF will lodge a strong protest with BGB in this regard.
India and Bangladesh share over 4156 km of border. Out of this, Tripura alone shares over 800 km.
With Rohingya Muslims and illegal immigrants sneaking into India from Bangladesh, the Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb is acting on tightening the security along the border.