Agartala, Sep 1 (IANS): The Border Security Force (BSF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP) have arrested seven Bangladeshi nationals and two Rohingyas for illegally entering Tripura, officials said on Saturday.

A BSF spokesperson said that the border guarding troops apprehended three Bangladesh nationals, including a woman and a girl child, from the Rangichera Border Out Post (BOP) in Tripura’s Khowai district while they were crossing the border fence.

During on the spot interrogation, they revealed that two of their associates had already crossed the border fence and moved towards Bagicherra village.

Thereafter, an operation in collaboration with the state police was launched in Bagicherra village in which two more Bangladesh nationals and a tout from the neighbouring country were apprehended.

All the apprehended Bangladeshi nationals are residents of Moulvibazar in Sylhet district and they belong to the same family.

It was also revealed that the tout, who worked as a carpenter in Tripura’s Halahalli, is also a Bangladeshi national and a resident of Moulvibazar.

On Friday night, the BSF apprehended a Bangladesh smuggler with imported cigarettes worth Rs 33 lakh from the BOP in Kalkalia in West Tripura district.

In another related incident, the GRP personnel arrested two Rohingyas, including a woman, from the Agartala railway station on Friday night.

The Rohingyas illegally entered India after fleeing their camps in Bangladesh’s Cox's Bazar where more than one million displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar have been living since 2017.

Over the last three months, more than 310 Bangladeshi nationals and 34 Rohingyas have been held by the GRP, Border Security Force, and Tripura Police from the Agartala railway station and other places in the state for illegally entering the Indian territory.