Overview
- BSF personnel who stopped suspected ganja smugglers were surrounded and attacked on Monday near Ashabari in Sepahijala district, leaving three officers injured and a pump-action gun reportedly seized.
- Authorities launched an intensive search operation after the November 2 clash and have now detained 18 people from across Sepahijala, including three women.
- All 18 accused have been charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (2023), and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
- The first 10 arrested were produced in local court with male suspects remanded to police custody and the women sent to judicial custody, and the newly arrested suspects are being processed for court production.
- Chief Minister Manik Saha chaired a multiagency review that directed stricter legal action and reinforced patrols along Tripura’s porous 856-kilometre border with Bangladesh where repeated smuggling-related attacks have endangered security personnel.