Agartala, Oct 10 (IANS): The Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested altogether 257 foreign nationals -- 239 Bangladeshi and 18 Rohingyas -- in Tripura till September this year, officials said on Wednesday.

Deputy Superintendent of GRP Soumen Sarkar said that they also arrested 54 Indian touts for facilitating foreign nationals in entering India illegally crossing India-Bangladesh borders without any valid documents and passports.

Sarkar said that between January and September, the GRP personnel arrested 239 Bangladesh nationals, 18 Rohingyas and 54 Indian touts from various railway stations, mostly in the Agartala railway station.

He said that the GRP personnel besides the foreign nationals, the GRP personnel also arrested 172 persons with various drugs during these nine months and they were charged under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) cases.

The GRP personnel in nine months this year also seized huge smuggled drugs including 17,500 Methamphetamine tablets, also known as Yaba tablets, 3254 kilograms of ganja (cannabis), 8411 bottles of cough syrup and 314 grams of heroin.

The Border Security Force (BSF), which has stepped up domination and vigil along the border in Tripura after the Bangladesh unrest began in June this year to prevent infiltration, also arrested over 355 Bangladeshi nationals and 41 Rohingyas in between July and September while trying to infiltrate into the Indian territory.

BSF Tripura frontier Inspector General Patel Piyush Purushottam Das frequently visits the bordering areas and interacts with the field commanders to ensure security in those areas and stresses using non-lethal weapons to prevent trans-border smuggling and sensitise them about the current situation.

Tripura now shares 856 km of international border with Bangladesh, including land-based and riverine border, much of which is covered with barbed wire fence except a few patches which are still unfenced due to local disputes and other issues.