New Delhi (NVI): Bangladesh Border Guard has arrested as many as 329 people for trespassing into Bangladesh from India in the last three weeks even as the detainees, who were mostly from Bengaluru, claimed that they fled from India fearing harassment from Indian authorities, a media report has said.
Bangladesh’s largest English daily The Start reported that the 329 people, who entered the country through the borders in Jhenidah and Jashore’s Benapole, were sent to district jails by courts after cases were filed against them for trespassing.
Although those arrested claimed to be Bangladeshis, they could not show the authorities any documents in support of the claim. They also claimed they fled from India fearing harassment and detention by the police there, The Star reported quoting sources.
According to the daily, the Border Guard Battalion-58 in Jhenidah said they held 67 minors, 69 men and 78 women between November 1 and November 10.
The arrestees illegally entered the country through the border points at Jaluli, Polianpur, Khashalpur in Maheshpur upazila, they said.
Habildar Moktar Hossain of the battalion said the arrestees were mostly from Bengaluru. Some of them had shifted to the city from Assam.
He said many of the arrestees claimed that they had gone to India from Bangladesh four to five years ago, but came back fearing detention by Indian police.
Seventeen cases were filed against the arrestees with Maheshpur Police Station, said OC of the police station, Rashedul Alam.
He said although the arrestees claimed to be from Maheshpur upazila of Jhenidah and Sharankhola upazila of Bagerhat, they could neither tell the names of any of the local union parishad members nor give the mobile phone numbers of any relatives in Bangladesh.
Director of Maheshpur BGB Battalion-58 Lt Col Kamrul Ahsan also quoted the arrestees as saying that they went to India four to five years ago. He said BGB had been detaining such intruders since the beginning of this month.
Bangladesh shares borders of over 4,000kms with India. The bordering Indian states are West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
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