5 Rohingyas Arrested In Tripura For Entering India Illegally With Fake Aadhaar Cards

Tripura Police arrested five Rohingya nationals on charges of entering India without any valid documents and for possessing fake Indian documents.

Representative Photo | The arrest of Rohingya nationals in different parts of the northeast is a frequent occurrence. The arrests usually take place when they attempt to go out of the region after crossing the international border illegally.

Source : Getty Images

Guwahati: The Tripura Police on Friday arrested five Rohingya nationals at the Dharmanagar railway station in North Tripura district of the state, after they entered India illegally, by crossing over the porous Indo-Bangla international border. Though a total of six Rohingya nationals crossed over to India through the Dharmanagar unfenced border on Thursday, one of their companions, a woman, managed to escape with a broker for some unknown destination, while the remaining five were arrested when they were trying to board a train to Jammu.    

After being brought to the Dharmanagar police station, their belongings were thoroughly checked. While checking their bags, the police recovered a number of fake Aadhaar cards from their possession.

The police arrested the Rohingya nationals on charges of entering India without any valid documents and for possessing fake Indian documents.

5 Rohingyas arrested in Tripura for entering India illegally with fake Aadhaar cards. (Image Source: Pallav Bora)

The police have started an investigation into the matter.

Of the five arrested Rohingya nationals, three are men and two are women. They have been identified as Aman Ullah, Mohammad Shah, Mohammad Ehsas, Rozina Begum, and Nur Kalima.

During preliminary investigation, one of the Rohingya nationals, Mohammad Ehsas, revealed that all of them were staying at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, but crossed over to Indian territory on Wednesday, with the motive best known to them.

Mohammad Ehsas further revealed that they entered India by bribing four brokers, of whom, two were Indians and the other two were Bangladeshi nationals.

Mohammad Ehsas added that each of them paid 25,000 Bangladeshi Taka to the broker who in return provided them with fake Aadhaar cards.

Another arrested Rohingya national, Rozina Begum, revealed that she is a resident of Myanmar’s Salbagan area and had crossed over to India with her companions.

The arrest of Rohingya nationals in different parts of the northeast is a frequent occurrence. The arrests usually take place when they attempt to go out of the region after crossing the international border illegally.

The Border Security Force (BSF), currently has the responsibility of guarding the frontier with Bangladesh.

Data shared by the BSF says that a total of 369 individuals, including 59 Rohingya nationals, 160 Indians, and 150 Bangladeshi nationals had been apprehended by the sentinels of the border from different parts of Tripura in 2022 alone for entering India illegally.  

In 2021, the BSF apprehended as many as 208 individuals while they were trying to cross over to India illegally through the porous borders of Tripura. Of them, 93 were Bangladeshi nationals and 115 were Indians.

The northeastern state of Tripura shares an 856-kilometer-long international border with Bangladesh on three sides. A major portion of the international border is still unfenced due to local land and demarcation-related issues.