BSF, cops on alert to check Rohingya infiltration: Tripura DGP

The BSF and the state police have increased vigilance along India-Bangladesh border to check infiltration of Rohingya Muslims, Director General of Police (DGP) Akhil Kumar Shukla said Wednesday, two days after 30 refugees were apprehended at Churaibari in Assam.

The immigrants, including 12 children, were on their way to Guwahati from Agartala in a bus Monday, when the Assam Police held them at Churaibari in Assam's Karimganj district, about 200 km from here.

They were sent to jail by a district court Tuesday.

Last week, 31 Rohingyas were holed up behind the barbed wire fencing along the Bangladesh boundary in Tripura, as the border guards of both sides debated over their status.

"The Border Security Force (BSF) and the state police have been put on alert to ensure that no new Rohingya Muslims enter into our territory through the India-Bangla international border," Shukla said.

Tripura shares 856-km-long border with Bangladesh.

C L Belwa, the deputy inspector general of BSF (Tripura Frontier), said Rohingyas make their way to India through different routes in the east and then move to other parts of the country for job and livelihood.

The refugees, who were apprehended at Churaibari on Tuesday, had actually entered India through Assam, he said.

"They had come to Tripura to work in brick kilns, but their livelihood issues were not solved here so they were returning to Assam again," Belwa told PTI.

The 31 Rohingya Muslims, who were holed up in no-man's land since January 18, have been handed over to Tripura Police by the BSF after talks with Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) failed.

They underwent a medical check-up and were later produced before a court in West Tripura district which sent them to 14-day judicial custody Tuesday.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar's Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017 after a military crackdown, triggering a massive refugee crisis.

In October 2017, the Ministry of Home Affairs had urged all states to take immediate steps to identify and monitor Rohingya immigrants.