By IANS
Agartala : Four Bangladeshi politicians, including two former MPs, who apparently fled the country to evade a crackdown there have been apprehended by Indian border guards in Tripura, officials here said Tuesday.
"We apprehended some Bangladeshi nationals from the border Monday and handed them over to the police for taking further action," said Border Security Force (BSF) inspector general for the Tripura frontier J.A. Khan.
"We do not know the identity of the Bangladeshi nationals, it is the duty of the police to ascertain the details about the detainees," Khan told IANS.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity said: "Some Bangladeshi nationals sneaked into Indian territory two months back and took shelter in the houses of their relatives at bordering Sonamura.
"Acting on a tip-off, BSF troopers conducted a search and detained Mijanur Rahaman and Miltan Rahaman along with their two associates from the house of Hanif Mia (an Indian national). Both of them were former members of the Bangladesh parliament. Mijanur is now the organising secretary of the Awami League and Miltan is looking after the Awami League Youth Front," the police officer added.
According to the police, during interrogation, they confessed that following extensive search operations carried out by the caretaker administration in Bangladesh, the politicians along with their some associates had fled the country and took shelter in India.
Local newspapers here have reported that a number of top Bangladesh politicians belonging to both the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have taken shelter in bordering villages of Tripura after caretaker government assumed office in Dhaka and launched a crackdown against the corrupt politicians.
"BSF troopers have been put on high alert following the political developments in Bangladesh and they are well equipped to foil any intrusion bid," Khan added.
BSF Director General A.K. Mitra will visit the border areas of the northeastern states next week and hold meetings with the senior officials to take stock of the situation.