A police officer said the three Bangladeshi nationals were trying to board a bus from Tripura's Chandrapur interstate bus terminal to Guwahati.

The three, identified as Noor Mohammad, Mohammad Abdullah and Asmaul Hasina, confessed that they had entered Tripura illegally and were trying to go to Punjab in search of jobs.

With the latest arrests, 44 Bangladeshi nationals, including women and children, have been caught in Tripura in the last three weeks after they crossed the border illegally with the help of Indian middlemen.