Agartala, Sept. 9: Four Bangladeshi motorbike lifters were lynched by residents of Ramnagar area on the western outskirts of Agartala this morning, sparking tension along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

In the past few years, motorbike lifting has emerged as a major crime in Agartala. Organised gangs have been lifting bikes from roads and residences in the capital and selling them across the border to Bangladeshi gangs.

The engines of the stolen bikes are used to power boats in Bangladesh.

DSP (central) Nityananda Debnath said that at around 2 am last night, a gang of four motorbike lifters, divided into two groups, tried to break into the neighbouring houses of Amalesh Dutta-Mazumder and Ajay. Some residents raised an alarm when they heard noises.

The gang was then chased by the residents of the neighbourhood through Silpara, Gangail Par and Kalikapur.

Three of the culprits, Muzammil Mia, Sanjit Das and Aslam Mia, were caught, disrobed and lynched.

The fourth member of the gang, Alam Mia, was found hiding in a lake around 8 this morning. Alam, the brother of the panchayat chairman in Akhaura area of Bangladesh, was dragged out of the lake and beaten to death.

?All of them were listed criminals and notorious bike lifters and we had been on the lookout for them,? Debnath said, adding that Muzammil was the leader of the group.

In July this year, another bike lifter had been lynched. ?During the past year, 142 bikes have been stolen and smuggled across the border and we have been able to recover only 24 of them,? Debnath said.

He added that because of trans-border movement, it was difficult to keep the criminals in custody after they obtained bail from courts.

Today?s incident triggered fresh tension along the Indo-Bangladesh border, with a number of Bangladeshi miscreants threatening Indian residents along the border with dire consequences over the lynching of the four men.

On August 30, two armed Bangladeshi antisocials were shot dead by BSF jawans at Kamthana area under Bishalgarh subdivision after they intruded into Indian territory in boats along the Bijay river to smuggle sand from the shores.

The men had also attacked patrolling BSF jawans. Later, however, BDR personnel told their BSF counterparts at a flag meeting that seven persons had been killed, as five more had succumbed to bullet injuries after they fled back to Putia in Bangladesh.