SHILLONG, Sep 28: As many as 19 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested from a border village in East Khasi Hills on Monday, Border Security Force (BSF) officials said on Tuesday.
A BSF official said that the Bangladeshi nationals were proceeding to Jammu and Kashmir for labour work.
Acting on specific intelligence input, troopers of BSF stationed at Border Out Post Rynkhua launched an ambush at the suspected unfenced route near Indo-Bangladesh border and apprehended the infiltrators.
Out of the 19 arrested, 13 were male, besides three women and as many children, including two touts. All of them are residents of Bangladesh’s Sunamganj district.
During preliminary interrogation, the group revealed before the BSF that one of the apprehended Bangladesh touts facilitated them in crossing the international border with the intention to take them to Kashmir for labour work, Inspector General of BSF, Meghalaya Frontier, Inderjit Singh Rana, said.
Rana said that the BSF troopers of Meghalaya Frontier have been maintaining extra vigil at vulnerable areas of the international border where chances of infiltration exist.
He also appreciated the troops who carried out the special drive to foil the attempt of infiltration by Bangladeshi nationals.
“The apprehended Bangladeshi nationals are being handed over to the police station concerned for further legal action. They were arrested by the police. Procedures for the minors will be taken as per law,” a state Home department official said. (With agency inputs)
