NLFT militants extorting money from companies engaged in Indo-Bangladesh border fencing work: Tripura police

Police in Tripura on Thursday said NLFT militants were still extoring money from private firms engaged in work to fence the India-Bangladesh border in the state.

Police said this came to light during investigation into a case registered at Raishyabari police station in Dhalai district following reports of extortion notices being served by the NLFT to firms working to fence the border. A statement issued by Tripura police headquarters said instead of taking help of police, some of the firms were assisting the banned militant group by paying money.

"During investigation into the case, it was found that a group of NLFT militants with sophisticated weapons led by Bikram Bahadur Jamatia was camping opposite Raishyabari border inside Bangladesh and was extorting money from border construction agencies," said the statement.

Based on information, police conducted an operation on Wednesday in which four persons were arrested and Rs 15 lakh in cash recovered. Three of them were waiting with the money to hand over to NLFT militants. A vehicle was also seized.

Security forces had cracked down on NLFT by arresting several top leaders over the years but security agencies claim that the outfit still had some camps inside Bangladesh. The outfit is increasingly targeting the agencies engaged in fencing work as completion of fencing would stop their activities from across the border, police sources said.

On December 8, three persons engaged in fencing work were abducted at gun point from Maldakumar Para area under Ganganagar police station in Dhalai district in South Tripura when they were levelling the ground to lay the fence.

Tripura shares about 856-km of the 4,096km-long Indo-Bangladesh border and some portions are still unfenced in South Tripura. This helps the militants, cross border smugglers and illegal migrants to enter the Indian territory.