BSF personnel patrol the fenced border at Sidhai Mohanpur in Tripura. A file picture

Agartala, Sept. 14: In a rare goodwill gesture, the Bangladesh Rifles handed over 18 All Tripura Tiger Force militants to the BSF in Tripura yesterday afternoon.

The militants returned to Khowai sub-divisional headquarters through the Puran Bazar immigration centre.

The militants have been identified as Chitta Debbarma, Budhiram Debbarma, Sanjit Debbarma, Bimal Debbarma, Vishnu Debbarma, Pranesh Debbarma, Shankhanath Debbarma, Bipindra Debbarma, Kamaljit Debbarma, Sujit Debbarma, Pradip Debbarma, Bhabesh Debbarma, Sandhiram Debbarma, Brijesh Debbarma, Radhakishore Debbarma, Somen Debbarma, Khagendra Debbarma and Bimal Debbarma alias Billa. All of them belong to Sadar, Howai and Takarjala subdivisions of West Tripura district.

All the 18 militants are being interrogated. Senior police officials said the rebels had joined the Tiger Force after the 2003 Assembly elections.

“The militants confessed that the Bangladesh Rifles had raided the Tiger Force headquarters at Satcherri across Sadar North’s border in Simna on October 10, 2004. They were then handed over to Chunarughat police station,” a police source said.

Bangladesh police in Chunarughat had booked all the militants under the Arms Act and chargesheeted them in the district and session court in Habiganj.

All the militants were sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and at the end of the sentence two months back, the BDR decided to hand them over to the BSF.

“Talks ensued between the BDR and their BSF counterparts (61 battalion) posted on the bordering Khowai sub-division and yesterday the 18 militants were brought to the Balla checkpost of Bangladesh where representatives of the BSF (61 battalion) received them,” the source said.

The BSF refused to comment on the issue.

“The BDR did their duty and we would have done the same. According to an understanding reached by the border forces of the two countries, criminals of one side sheltered in the other’s territory, if apprehended, will be extradited,” said BSF deputy inspector-general A.K. Singh.

He added that such gestures would strengthen relations between the two countries.

The BDR gesture in returning the militants has also drawn favourable comments from the state government.

Earlier, when 72 NLFT militants led by Mantu Koloi and the entire group of dissident NLFT led by Nayanbasi Jamatya surrendered, they crossed over keeping the BDR and Dhaka Bangladesh in ignorance.