SHILLONG, Jan 3: In an incident of violation of status quo at the Indo-Bangla border, a Bangladesh national along with four others and a resident of Amjalong village in West Jaintia Hills reportedly got into a skirmish while the group was attempting to pilfer betel nuts from the orchard of the latter.
In a statement, the Border Security Force (BSF) informed that the Bangladeshi national, identified as Iqbal of Sylhet district, trespassed into Indian territory with the intention of stealing the produce of locals.
After the group had entered the garden in the Meghalaya village, the owner detected the trespassers and objected to their appearance. Following this, they had a scuffle and the Bangladeshi nationals dragged the local in an attempt to take him towards Bangladesh lands.
The local resident, while resisting the force of the group dragging him, called on villagers for aid.
On seeing fellow villagers approaching, the miscreants fled leaving the owner on the spot.
“The villagers exhibited a sensible attitude by not opening fire on them but facilitated dispersing the group by just making a uproar,” the BSF said in the statement. The incident took place at the same border area where one Bangladesh national assaulted BSF troop with machete some days ago, it added.
Shillong-based media approached the PRO of BSF, Meghalaya, who confirmed the veracity of above incident.
“BSF has many times warned and advised Border Guards Bangladesh to educate their people living along the border area to refrain from such activities, but in spite of the best efforts of both the forces, Bangladeshi intruders keep on violating the sanctity of international boundary and become the target of local residents (of India),” the statement said.