BSF nabbed 135 Bangladeshis since Jan 1

The Border Security Force (BSF) has apprehended 135 Bangladeshi nationals between January 1 and September 13, while 54 of these have been handed over to the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB), during attempts made by people across the border to illegally infiltrate or migrate into India.

However, since August 5, when the political crisis broke out in Dhaka with the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi nationals have been getting apprehended by the BSF almost on a daily basis, leading to the security force flagging the issue of rising illegal migrations and infiltrations, especially during the last one and a half months, with the BGB during flag meetings.

In fact, it is pertinent to mention that all aforementioned apprehensions have been made by BSF troops of the North Bengal frontier, which shows that all these infiltration attempts have been made along the India-Bangladesh frontier bordering West Bengal.

The latest incident took place on September 13, when BSF troops in Siliguri sector apprehended three Bangladeshi nationals, with sources pointing out they were trying to cross the border illegally from Bangladesh into India in search of livelihood. While the three persons were handed over to the BGB as a goodwill gesture, BSF officials raised concern with their Bangladeshi counterpart about the increased illegal migration as well as illegal infiltration by Bangladeshi nationals, especially post the regime change in Bangladesh.

During a meeting held between Inspector General (North Bengal Frontier) of the BSF Sooryakant Sharma and Region Commander of the BGB Mohammad Khandaker Shafiquzzaman on September 12, the issue of rising cases of attempted infiltration by Bangladeshi nationals and safety of minority community in that country and also Indian nationals was flagged by the Indian authorities.