The escape of convicted National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) militant Swarna Kumar Tripura from high-security central prison near Agartala in the early hours of May 14, 2021, marked his third escape since 2016. This incident has brought the fleeing of an international ATM hacker, Hakan Zanburkan, into the spotlight.
Zanburkan, a Turkish national, managed to evade his guards during a medical check-up here on July 9, 2021, and is still at large. Along with two other fellow nationals, Zanburkan had committed a series of ATM scams in various parts of India and was eventually caught in Tripura after looting lakhs through ATM card cloning at various bank booths.
Two Bangladeshis and at least two local collaborators were arrested in connection with the case, but one of the alleged collaborators later died in police custody. Initially, the State government assigned the Crime Branch (CB) to investigate the escape of Zanburkan.
