Eight Rohingyas apprehended from West Tripura district

Agartala: Eight Rohingyas, including four children and two women, were apprehended from Khayerpur Bazar area in West Tripura district, about 10 km from here today, police said.

This is the first time that such a large number of people from the community were apprehended from Tripura.

Police had raided the area following a tip-off.

Superintendent of Police (Police Control) Pradip De said the Rohingyas claimed to be from Myanmar and produced refugee cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They had entered the country from Bangladesh in search of jobs.

During preliminary interrogation, the Rohingyas claimed that they had travelled to many parts of the country, including Kolkata and Jammu, and came here after being told that there were jobs available, he said.

In September, four Rohingyas were arrested from Teliamura railway station in Khowai district, about 40 km from here.

The BSF had last month sounded an alert along the 856 km- long Indo-Bangla International Border in Tripura to check the influx of Rohingyas into the country.

Thousands of Rohingyas, an ethnic group largely comprising Muslims, fled Myanmar following incidents of violence in the country's western province of Rakhine. Their language is linguistically similar to Bengali.