7,601 Illegal Immigrants Arrested in Tripura from 2017-19

Agartala, March 27, 2020:

As many as 7,601 illegal immigrants were arrested in Tripura within two years (2017-2019), a report placed in the state legislative assembly stated. According to the report, 99.13 percent of the total immigrants who were arrested belong to the neighboring Bangladesh.

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Responding to a batch of queries raised by MLA Ranjit Das, The Minister-in-Charge of the Home department informed the house that among the arrested persons 72 people were lodged in jails of across the state and others had been returned to their countries of origin, as per Court orders.

"72 foreign nationals are lodged in several jails of the state whereas, others have been deported to their countries subsequent to Court orders", written answer of the Chief Minister, also the Home Minister, reads.

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According to the data, in the year 2017 altogether 2,539 foreign nationals were arrested who entered the country without possessing any valid permission. In the subsequent years, the figures stood at 2,510 and 2,552 respectively. The lion's share of the arrested immigrants are from Bangladesh. The total number of Bangladeshis caught in Tripura in these years is 7,535 [In 2017, 2,526 Bangladeshis were arrested; in 2018, 2,490 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested; in 2019, 2519 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested).

Sources in the police department said, “Various agencies in different times arrested these people. The BSF, MTF and state police, all the agencies have operated jointly to put up a sort of shield along the borders so that no foreign nationals could enter the state. Once they entered, they were arrested straight away."

However, these figures in the wake of corona Pandemic has evoked massive backlash from several sections of society.

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The bordering sub-divisions like Belonia and Sonamura are most exposed to this threats as there are long stretches of the border which are yet to be fenced. It may be mentioned here that the Chief Minister of the state, Biplab Deb, few days back had directed everyone to seal the borders and keep a strict vigil so that no one could breach the borders as Bangladesh was reporting a number coronavirus cases.

It is pertinent here that Bangladesh has recorded as many as 5 deaths due to an outbreak of the coronavirus. Altogether, 48 cases of the virus have been detected in the neighboring country thus far. India, meanwhile, has recorded 753 cases of the COVID-19.

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