BSF working with Tripura Police to thwart insurgents' activities

The Border Security Force on Thursday said it has been coordinating with other security agencies in Tripura, to prevent the NLFT, a banned insurgent outfit, from getting active in the state.

Members of the NLFT are trying to exploit people, taking advantage of the difficult terrains of the state, Inspector General of BSF, Tripura Frontier, Sushanta Nath said.

"We are working in coordination with the Tripura Police so that the insurgents cannot regroup. The BSF is maintaining the highest vigil on the border. The ultras are getting active and exploiting people, taking advantage of the difficult terrains of the state," the official said.

The National Liberation Front of Tripura members had kidnapped three construction workers from a village near the Indo-Bangla border in Dhalai district on December 7 last year.

However, the labourers were released in the last week of December 2020, Tripura Police AIG Subrata Chakraborty said.

"The insurgents were forced to release the workers as continuous operations by the security forces were conducted.

The Bangladeshi authorities had also launched operations in their side," he said.

Recently, extortion notices were allegedly served by the banned outfit to seven residents of Vangmun village in North Tripura district.

The BSF held 131 people in Tripura in the last one year for trying to cross the Indo-Bangla international border illegally, Nath said.

"Among the 131 people apprehended, 85 are Indians and the remaining 46 Bangladeshis. Some of them were involved in smuggling activities," the official told reporters at BSF headquarters here at Shalbagan.

He also said the border guard personnel have destroyed a huge number of ganja plants worth Rs 9.41 crore in the bordering areas of the state and seized gold bars, valued at Rs 95.93 lakh, in the last one year.

They also recovered 2,209 cattle-heads during the same period.

Tripura shares 856-km long international border with Bangladesh, in which around 67 km still remains unfenced.