BSF & BGB worry over Rohingya influx through Tripura

Agartala: Rohingya infiltration got the highest priority in a commandant-level meeting between BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). At the meeting on the Bangladesh part of Maitree Setu in Sabroom on Monday, the BSF expressed its serious concern over the frequent infiltration of Rohingya refugees into Indian territory while agreeing to increase vigilance.BSF officials said the security forces deployed in Tripura on many occasions detained a number of Rohingya refugees on their journey towards other cities of the country along with agents involved with human trafficking. The BSF also sought the cooperation of its Bangladesh counterpart to complete the barbed wire fencing in some remaining stretches of the Indo-Bangla border. The BSF has also highlighted the smuggling of narcotic items and also stressed on joint concrete efforts to stop the smuggling of narcotic items in both parts of the border, officials said.According to reports, the golden triangle of drug smuggling through Myanmar and Thailand has made Tripura a corridor for transportation of narcotic items to its ultimate destination at Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, from where the consignments are reportedly smuggled to other parts of Bangladesh and neighbouring countries.The BSF, however, emphasised on joint patrolling on both sides of the border to stop drug smuggling, to which the BGB also agreed.